


Path of The Stars

by Fierystorm22



Series: The Deathening [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:34:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 9
Words: 40,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27046543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fierystorm22/pseuds/Fierystorm22
Summary: Seishiryu Hoshikuzu was born of Hoshigakure. Her father helped to build Hoshigakure strong, and he was named their leader for that. He'd helped the village strengthen and gain power, though he kept their newfound strength secret. He was not born in Hoshigakure, however, and merely happened to find it one day on his travels. His past is a secret that comes knocking one day, slaughtering him and his family, leaving only Seishiryu as the survivor. She's left alone to piece together secrets of the past. The dead have secrets, and the past has a way of making itself known.
Relationships: Gaara (Naruto)/Original Female Character(s), Uchiha Sasuke/Original Female Character(s)
Series: The Deathening [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/586213
Kudos: 1





	1. Through The Woods

_“I don’t care what you think, I know what I saw!”_   
_Tsu just gave me an exasperated face. “Look, I know that you and Kadra don’t get along, but she wouldn’t try to kill you!”_   
_I glared at her. “I saw her. Sasuke saw her. She was standing at the edge of the waterfall. Why would she be there if she wasn’t trying to kill me? Even Sasuke saw her!” Oh, how I wished I’d waited until Sasuke had been here to tell her he, too, had seen her, but I felt like I couldn’t wait. Probably due to the two year anniversary of seeing Kadra pushing me off the edge of the waterfall coming up soon. But Sasuke and his family were on their way up here, what with it being my birthday, and the entirety of Konoha having been invited. They wouldn’t be here for a couple days, but they should be on their way._   
_Yet after awakening this morning from an horrific nightmare of that day, I found I could no longer keep what I’d been hiding from my sisters for two years. It blurted from me right before we were sent to bed. I’d had an outburst at the dinner table, screaming at Kadra, and Mama sent all three of us to bed. Even though I’d been the person who screamed during dinner. I don’t know why she chose to punish all three of us._   
_This, I believed, to be the cause of Tsu’s anger. Partially at me for screaming, and partially at Mama for punishing her when she had done nothing wrong._   
_Shi stood in the middle of us, hands outstretched, as though we needed a blockage between us._   
_For once, I felt we had a block between us, and it wasn’t Shi._   
_“Katsu would never do that. She wouldn’t try to kill you! It must’ve been a nightmare! Why are you taking it so seriously?”_   
_I turned away from her then. “You know what, don’t believe me! I don’t care! I know what happens, and if you don’t believe me, you can ask Sasuke, because he saw it too! Since you can’t take your own sister’s word!” With that, I bolted to my door, flng it open, and fled inside, slamming the door as hard as I could behind me. If she chose to believe that–ugh! She’s so-so . . . !_   
_I was so angry, I couldn’t think straight. So angry, it took a moment for me to realize tears were leaking from eyes I’d clenched shut. In anger, I slammed the side of my fist against the door and made my way to my bed. “Screw them. Screw everyone. I don’t care anymore.” Into my bed I climbed, sliding my hands against the silken, black sheets._   
_Papa had left two days ago, as he always did before my birthday celebration here. Though I never knew why, I knew he didn’t want to be seen by the people of Konoha. He never said it, but over the past two years, I’d noticed all the pictures of Papa disappearing. Papa told me multiple times to not mention him to anyone at the party. He’d never told me why, but had always coached me not to say anything about him._   
_Had Papa been here at my outburst, Mama would never have sent all three of us to our beds. Maybe just me, but Papa would’ve drawn the line at all three of us being punished._   
_If Papa had been here, maybe he’d understand. Maybe he would listen._   
_But as it was, I was in my room, angry, hurt, scared. But Papa wasn’t here._

  
So comfortable. It's about time I started falling asleep. . . . I could see colors forming now, right about to start a dream. Right about to begin. . . . Sounds, vague. I heard vague sounds, lulling me deeper into sleep. It was just starting. A valley, with long grasses, and a beautiful, huge tree in the distance. I was standing there, in my nightgown, and–  
A hand clasped over my mouth. My eyes shot open, roaming about to find I was staring at my father's frightened face. He held one finger up to his lips. "Seishiryu, something is about to happen, and I need you to hide for me. Can you do that, Seishiryu? Can you hide?"  
It was the fear in his voice that made me nod.  
He picked me up, carried me to my armoire and opened the door just to scatter everything on the floor of the armoire. He reached forward, and I felt him run his energy through the armoire. It glowed a slight Tsuer, and the bottom of it slid open. "Get in there, and follow the signs. Do not come out until I come to get you. Don't make a sound, don't use your power. Go."  
I climbed into the hole, and watched it close above my head. Darkness closed around me, and I felt afraid. I crouched there, trying to remember what was going on, trying to wake up. People had a nasty habit of waking me up right when I was starting to fall asleep. I shook my head, rubbed my eyes, and it started to dawn on me. I looked up, touching the ceiling above my head. "Daddy?"  
It was so dark in the hole. I felt a breeze, and realized it wasn't a hole. Tunnel. The breeze was coming from behind me. I turned around, crawling through the cramped space. Feeling every inch of the way, I crawled through the tunnel as soundlessly as I could. After a few minutes, I could see a dim light glowing. I followed that light to find it was a starstone imbedded in the wall, with a note beside it, posted to the wall with a kunai.  
I pulled the note off the wall.  
In my father's messy handwriting, it read:  
  
"Seishiryu,

If you're reading this, it means they finally found me. They most likely have figured out where I am, and have come to exact their revenge for me running out on them. What you need to know is Daddy did some bad things as a young adult, that still haunt him to this day.

It is because of these things that you and your siblings are in a constant state of danger. I can never make it up to you, and I can never take back the things I have done, but I can try to be sure you and your sisters never fall into their hands. The three of you together, you are special girls, and he would do anything to get his hands on you if he discovered your existence. Because of this, I had these elaborate tunnels created to keep you and your sisters safe.

Follow the stars, and you will find your way.

Do not attempt to go above to find your sisters, to find me, your brother, or your mother. You stay put. Do not come up. If you come up, it will be risking everything Bolestrole, your mother, Kartwer, and I have done to protect you. Do not let this be in vein, Seishiryu. Stay hidden, stay put, and stay unseen.

Follow the stars.

I will find you."

I stared at the note for what felt like hours before finally turning to realize the tunnel made a T. I wasn't sure which way to go. I chose left. Left split off into three different ways, and I chose the far right tunnel, to see a dimly glowing light. It came to another T, and I continued to go left.  
I examined the floor, listening to them toss my room, hoping they'd give me a hint where Shi and Tsu had disappeared at. There was no trick door, nothing. I didn't know how he'd gotten it open.  
Then I remembered. The glow. He'd used his Chakra. How, though?  
I pressed my hand to the floor, running my Chakra through it, and found that inside the wood, there was a little maze. I ran my Chakra through the maze, and the floor opened. I could see them coming toward the armoire. I jumped down. The ceiling slit shut just as I heard the armoire doors open. This time, I was awake to notice that two doors had slid closed. Two doors had opened. So if they managed to get the armoire off the floor, they wouldn't find a hole.  
After two more turns, another Starstone, I found another note.

"Seishiryu,

Use the Starstones to open the door the way you do in your room."

It took me a minute to realize the note was worded so nobody but me or my twins would understand it. I pressed my palm to the Starstone, ran my energy through it, and a section of the wall that was about two feet wide slid into the ground. I crawled through it, taking the note with me, just in case someone else found it, and found another Starstone. I pressed my palm to it and pushed my energy through it.  
The floor opened up beneath me, and I fell, cupping my hands over my mouth to quell a scream. I landed on my feet, in a small room. There was only one door in the room, and with a quick inspection, the door led to the bathroom. No escape, no other way in. There was a bed, a stove, a fridge, a table with one chair, counters, and a bookshelf inside. There was a note pinned to the fridge.

"Seishiryu,

You have done well reaching this point. Now listen carefully. There are no television sets in this room, nothing that will cause noise, because this is your safe room. Shisan and Tsuerstar have one of their own. It was important to separate you three so they would not get hold of all three of you.

I know you don't like being without your sisters, but this was for your own safety. You are to stay down here for at least a week before trying to come up again. There are plenty of books, writing materials, and food for you to live on for that short time. There are weapons in the dresser, and a disguise. Wear the disguise when you leave, and be sure to keep the weapons on you at all times.

Remember your training. Do not let them come up behind you, but if they do, use your wings. If nobody comes for you, you are to wait out the week. Stay hidden, stay inside, stay silent. Do not let him find you.

Stay safe, my dear one, and know, everything I do, I do for you."

I shifted my weight, looking around. "Papa. Oh, what am I to do?" Dropping all the papers I'd been carrying, I walked over to the dresser. All but the last two drawers were filled with clothes. The left side of the bottom drawer was filled with weapons. The other side was filled with a wig, holsters, and wraps.  
Wrapping my arms around my torso, I made my way to the bed, dropping onto it to curl into a ball. I covered my face with my hands. My chest felt heavy, eyes starting to water.  
I cried.

Time passed. I wasn’t sure how long. It felt like days. I paced, I sat, I dozed, I ate, I read, I stared at walls, but everything seemed to stand still. As still as could be.   
I finally got tired of waiting, and had to find my sisters. Knowing no other way out, I pulled the table under the place I'd come out at, having kept the notes where I'd dropped down at. I climbed up, pressed the Starstone at the very top of the wall. The door slid open, and I pulled myself up and through. It closed as I was scurrying away.  
I took my time getting out, but I heard nobody. When I pulled myself up into my armoire, nobody was around. Nobody was in the hallway, either, and I still heard nothing. "Shisan? Tsudoshi?" I called out, against my better judgement.  
No answer.  
I sprinted toward Tsudoshi's room, opening it to look around. Finding no trapdoors, or hidden tunnels, I left, searched Shi's room in the same way, and made my way to my mom and dad's room.   
Their bathroom door was open, and I could see something inside there, just past the door. Clutching the kunai that once pinned the note, I crept closer to the door. “Tsu?” I whispered. “Shi?”   
No answer. No movement. No sound.   
So I moved closer, until I touched the door with the very tip of my fingers. The stone floor chilled my bare feet as I pushed the door open.   
A scream erupted from me, before I could stop it. What I had seen poking out around the door were Papa’s fingertips. One arm outstretched, one arm down at his side, face-down on the stone floor, in a pool of his own blood, lay my father.   
“Papa! Papa!” My scream echoed off the walls, surrounding me in what seemed to be an endless scream of “Papa!” I had stepped toward him without realizing it, but standing right in front of him seemed to have snapped me out of it. I whirled, ready to bolt, and immediately slipped in the cold, sticky blood on the floor. One hand caught my fall on the cold, bloody floor, but I landed straight on my butt in the blood, and my other hand landed on something hard, and cold. My heart stopped, air solidifying in my lungs, and turned my head to look down. My hand rested lightly on Papa’s arm, but it didn’t feel like an arm. It felt like a block of cold wood.   
I scrambled to my feet, started to scream, and covered my mouth with my hands–momentarily forgetting that my hand was stained in blood. It stopped me from screaming for a moment as I turned to stare in horror at my hand. “I-I need to wash it. I need to wash it. I need to wash it.”   
But then, I heard voices. Not from inside the bedroom, not yet, but I could hear, “Screams, where did they come from?”   
I shot a quick, panicked look around the bathroom, but there was no way out from here, except to the bedroom. Within that glance around the room, I noticed Papa clenched in his hand a silver kunai. I dropped to my knees and, with shaking hands, pried that kunai from him. It was cold to the touch, not warm, like I felt it should be. I rose, and as quickly as I could, I ran back to the bedroom, glanced around, and, right as I heard voices at Mama and Papa’s door, ran to their balcony doors. I opened the doors, rushed out, and didn’t have time to close the door all the way before I heard the bedroom door opening.   
My breath caught again, and I froze, my hand on the doorknob. The balcony doors were glass, but there was a thin, white curtain that stood between me and being found. The door wasn’t fully closed though, and I was afraid to risk closing it the rest of the way. Instead, I turned to look. It was too far down to jump. I looked up, remembering a time, two years ago, where I’d been on the roof with someone else.   
Now, as I climbed up to the rooftops, there would be no safety net. No burst of sand keeping me from falling. Nobody to catch my hand as the ground crumbles beneath me.   
My heart was pounding, but I climbed. Up, up, up. There was noise in the room below, and I stopped, holding my breath. Completely frozen, afraid to move, afraid to breathe. Afraid to make any sounds at all. What if they know I’m up here? What if–I stopped, suddenly realizing with horror that there was still half-dried blood on my hand. It was gelled more than liquid at this point, but it was still possibly wet enough to leave a trail on white doors.  
I turned very slowly, very quietly, to see the shadow of someone on the balcony behind me. I couldn’t tell if I was seeing the shadow through the glass doors, or if whoever it was, was on the balcony. Panic flooded me then, and I couldn’t breathe. If they find me . . . !  
That panic filled me, until, without thinking about it, I shoved every bit of my power into my back, into my shoulders. The wings hidden inside me flinched, spread across my back, inside the skin, spreading, spreading, until my skin could no longer hold it in. Pain began then, and I bit into my fist to keep from crying out, clenching my other hand hard enough to feel my skin break under my nails.  
My wings spread under my skin, until I could feel my skin rip, feel a corner of the wings begin to force their way out.   
I was so focused on this, I hadn’t realized I’d closed my eyes. I also hadn’t realized that I could hear very vaguely over the thunderous pound of my heart and the sound of my blood dripping down my back, something moving closer to me. I opened my eyes to see someone, someone I didn’t know, climbing onto the roof. Our eyes locked, and I froze again.   
It wasn’t anyone I knew. Dark eyes, white hair, pale skin. I didn’t recognize him. He seemed to freeze, too. With a final burst of energy, my wings sprang free. Large, black, feathered. I flicked my wings three times to clean off any blood on them, glared at the person trying to come toward me, turned and leapt into the air.   
I made it maybe twenty, thirty feet, when I felt something slam into my back, right between my wings. I cried out, and my wings shuddered, flicked, and went still. I tried to keep them moving, but outside of a flick every few seconds, they wouldn’t move. The fall forced a scream from my throat, and I tried to flick my wings, hover, move, something. Anything. Until my wings retreated into my back entirely, and I went down hard.   
My left thigh hit the edge of the roof, just barely, as I grabbed at the edge of the roof. Another sharp pain in my hand, and I let go, then fell hard to the balcony beneath. I lay there, breathing hard. My right side had hit the balcony, but my left had barely hit the roof. My hand, when I raised it to my face, had a dark, ragged cut across the palm and was oozing blood.   
Breathe, I reminded myself. Breath, Se. Breathe. Biting my hand again to keep silent, I reached back and yanked whatever was stuck in my back out. A throwing needle? I set it on the floor, and took a deep, shaking breath. I was hurt, definitely, but I was alive. With that in mind, I pulled myself up using the balcony railing, flinched when my full weight made both my legs hurt, and turned toward the balcony door. The kunai I’d taken from Father still clenched tightly in my hand.  
Memories flooded me, just a little. Two years ago, I’d been on this very balcony, with a redheaded boy I now missed ferociously. He’d come to my last birthday party, so hopefully he’d come to this one. Maybe he could make it in time to help. Maybe someone could.  
Anyone.   
The balcony door was unlocked, and I had a moment to think how unsafe that was, but also felt grateful that it was unlocked. Then, I paused, realizing I’d used my bloody hand to open the door. Oh, no. Not again! I used my nightgown to wipe the blood off the doorknob, and, hearing someone on the roof above me, ran inside.   
Idea. I went to the door, deliberately spread blood on the doorknob, and the door, then ran to the bed, carefully climbing under without touching any of the bedding with any bloodied part of my body. I was barely fully under when someone dropped onto the balcony.   
Clasping my hands over my mouth, I kept myself as still as I could, and watched from under the bed skirt. There was less than an inch between the bottom of the bed skirt and the floor, so all I could see was feet when whoever it was came into the room.   
The feet weren’t very big. They wore sandals, and walked through the room uncertainly. They stood in place a few minutes, and I clenched my jaw, holding my breath, afraid. Panic roared through my head. All I could hear was the sound of my blood rushing through my head. Then he walked toward the door, and out.   
And I lay there, relief rendering me limp on the floor. I took a couple deep breaths, and waited. Too terrified to move. Even though I knew that, eventually, someone would likely check under the bed. I was honestly pretty shocked that he hadn’t checked the bed, but there was no doubt in my mind that I’d never been able to run out into that hall and find another hiding place in my condition. No, I could barely walk, let alone–  
Someone screamed. And I knew that voice.  
“Mama,” I breathed, scrambling out from under the bed instantly. I got to the doorway before I stopped, realizing this could be stupid. They could be out there. Fear froze me in place.  
Then she screamed again, a loud, ragged, terrified scream that made my bones hurt.   
Downstairs. She’s downstairs. Shaking the fear off, I bolted out of the room, toward the double doors leading to the small landing the stairs connected at. I paused, trying to pinpoint the sound, and she screamed again. The parlor, that was it. That’s where she is. The parlor doors, I could see from here, were open. Light was streaming in from that room, into the grand entrance hall. I could see shadows on the floor there.  
I ran downstairs, toward the door, and got halfway there before I froze again. Slowly, slowly, I forced myself toward that door. My chest was tight, lungs felt heavy, frozen.   
“You will tell me where your daughters are hiding! I don’t care how long this takes!” I heard someone yell. A man’s voice. Anger roughened, but smooth.   
“You can do whatever you want to me, I’ll never betray my daughters. Ever!”  
I got to the doorway. There, there was a man standing there. Brown hair, tall, muscular, wearing a black cloak with the hood down. There was a sword in his hand, pointed at my mother.   
“Mama?” My voice was soft, barely audible over the sound of my rough breathing, but the man turned toward me. Green eyes, he had green eyes. He smiled an unpleasant smile at me, a smile that made chills run down my spine, then turned toward my mother. “I don’t need you anymore, it seems.” With that, he slashed the sword quickly across, and my vision focused entirely on the spray of blood and the glassy-eyed look on my mother’s face.  
“Mama! Mama!” I started to run into the room, and someone grabbed me from behind. “N-no, Mama! Mama! Let go! Mama!” I was being pulled away from the room, and I reached out to grab onto the doorframe. “No! No! Let go! Mama!” My nails scraped off paint from the doorframe as I was yanked off. I could still see the brown-haired man, smiling at me, still see Mama’s body on the floor. I screamed, a loud, long, ragged scream.   
“Se?” I heard a weak voice, from toward the front doors. When I looked toward that voice, I saw Big Brother, face a little bloody, eyes wide, limping, but mostly unharmed. “Seishiryu.” His bright green eyes were panicked, flashing between me and whoever was holding me. He stumbled forward, hands clenching at his sides, then seemed to swallow hard. A long, slow blink, a deep, slow breath, and he started walking toward me.   
“Big Brother! Help me!”  
His face hardened, and he looked from me, to the man holding me. In an instant, he’d flung something through the air, toward the man holding me.  
The man gasped, leaning backward, and I felt something wet, warm drip onto my shoulder. The hold loosened, and he slowly seemed to sink into the floor.  
“H-hey, what are you-?”   
Big Brother yanked me into him quickly, flinging something into the room with the brown-haired man, and picked me up. “Hold on tight, Seishiryu,” he said softly.   
I buried my face in his shoulder, wrapping my arms around him. “Big Brother, Mama is . . . !”  
I felt him nod. “Yes, I know. It will be okay, Seleh. I’m going to get you out of here. I promise.” He turned, and we started to walk. “Why did you come out from your hiding place? It was safe there.”  
“I wanted to find my sisters.”   
“They’ll be okay. Everyone will be okay. You just need to go back to your hiding spot.” He was walking toward the stairs.   
Then he stopped, body tensing, and he put me down. He was staring up into the landing leading to the upstairs hallway, an angry, almost hateful look on his face.  
“Well, well, well. I spy a little nuisance.”  
I turned toward whatever he was looking at, but I couldn’t see a face. Just a black cloak.   
Yellow eyes. . . .  
A chill ran down my spine. I hesitated. “B-Big brother?”  
“Run, Seleh,” he said softly. “Go. Get out of here. Run, fly away. Now.”  
I stared up at him. “What about you?”  
“Just go, Seleh. I’ll catch up.”   
I nodded, glanced up at the cloaked man. Though I wasn’t sure how well I could run, or how long I could, I took off toward the front doors, hesitating slightly when I reached the parlor doors.  
“Run, Seleh! Run, now!” Big Brother shouted, and I jumped, picking up speed once again.  
And I ran out, into the darkness. Tears were streaming down my face, I was covered in blood that was mine and wasn’t mine, and the only thing I wanted was to be somewhere I felt safe. Somewhere I could wash the blood off.  
So I ran to the Waterfall Place. Through the forest, past trees, over fallen longs, pricking my skin multiple times as I pushed through brambles, I ran. I fell once, after my nightgown caught on something, sending me sprawling into the dirt. But I stood back up instantly and continued to run. As fast as I could. And when I found myself at the Waterfall Place, I stopped, collapsed at the edge of the water, and cried. Sobs so powerful, my entire body shook, I cried. As silently as I could.   
I’m alone.   
It was my reflection in the water that broke me. I was fine, until I sat at the edge of the water, and looked into the water, ready to wash my face clean. I broke. I cried.   
But not long. I couldn’t. Sniffling, still gasping for air, I stopped crying, wiped my face with my dirtied, bloodied nightgown, and stood. I longed to wash myself free of the blood, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t bare to see myself again.   
With tears drying on my face, I ran to the cliff, staring up as I started to climb. Up, up, and up, I didn’t stop. I couldn't stop. I reached the top, and to my surprise, as I pulled myself up, I wasn't alone.  
Katsu sat there on a big chair, legs crossed, high heel dangling off one foot, wearing a golden gown, golden high heels, with a wine glass in her hand. She seemed disturbingly unperturbed for what was happening. She stood, walking toward me. "Dear Seishiryu. Did you really think you would get away? Meet up with your sisters? Be all safe and comfy while the rest of them burnt? I don't think so." She stood, kicked off her heels, and walked toward me as I clung onto the edge of the cliff. “I will not fail a second time, little sister!” Once she reached me, without warning, she stomped down on my hand.  
I let go with that one hand, clinging with the other. "What are you doing!?"  
"What I've dreamt of doing since you were born! Dropping you in water to watch you sink!" She stomped on my other hand.  
I let go, but had already grabbed a root with my other hand. "Katsu, stop! I'm your sister!"  
"You are not my sister! I have no sisters! You took everything I ever wanted, everything! You took father's attention, you stole my brother, you took the Clan I wanted to marry into! You took everything! You got the better fiancé. You got the better village. You got the better future, while I got to sit around in a tiny little village with a mean-nothing person!"  
"You were betrothed to Suna's-!”  
"Not anymore! He turned me down! Said I had an ugly personality. And poof. He was gone. Leaving me with nothing but a tiny betrothal request from some unimportant bullshit boy, while you? You get to go off to be with the Clan I’ve wanted since I was born. I wanted him before he was even born, and you got him! You did! I don't know what makes you so fucking special, little sister, but I can guarantee, after this, you won't be. Everyone's going to feel bad for the girl who survived her family's murder. And I'll have something in common with him. I'll have been ridden of you, I'll get the Clan and the fairytale I wanted, and best of all! I steal your own betrothed from you." She knelt, cupping my chin in her hand. "That's the best vengeance I can think of. Kill you, and steal your fiancé, steal your place. Your future."  
I glared at her. "You destroyed everything, because you are a petty, jealous bitch!"  
She glared at me then, and no more words needed between us, she raised her other hand, a dagger in it. A pause, she gave me a horribly angry look, and shoved the dagger through my hand.  
I screamed, jerking my chin out of her hand and let go with my other hand, falling. I hit the water, hard, going under. Opening my eyes wide, I stayed under. She knew I couldn't swim.  
At least, not well. Underwater, I kicked and flailed my way toward the rushing water. Though I hoped she had no idea, there was a hidden cave behind that water fall. I made my way toward it, toward the underwater entrance. There was no way to get in unless you were underwater. Katsu would not know that.  
I would not know that, if not for Tsu. Her ability to transform into her Nymph form was the only thing that helped save me. She'd told me all about the hidden cave. The only thing she'd never told me is if there was a place above water. I was risking my life hoping there was.  
As it turned out, there was a tiny opening when I surfaced that led to a larger, dry cavern. The opening was just barely big enough to me to squirm through. Finding it just in time, I thanked Tsudoshi a hundred times as I huddled in the larger cavern, shivering, terrified and angry. I waited there, holding my wounded hand, waited, hoping she would leave soon. It got dark before I made my way out. I made my way toward the horse pasture. It wasn't until I could see it that I realized it was a bad idea.  
A sense of dread came over me, though I wasn't sure why. I hopped over the fence, crept toward the barn, looking for my horse.  
"So, you were faking me out. I waited for hours for you to come out."  
A chill ran down my spine. I turned my head to see Katsu leaning against the fence. "Why don't you just let me be?"  
"Why won't you just die?" I could feel her Chakra building. She held her hand up, palm upward. Red rose petals floated around her hand. "You are the bane of my existence, Seishiryu Hoshikuzu."  
My heart was pounding. I was so tense, I could barely breathe. My very skin was trembling. "You can't do this."  
"Well, well. You found her. Good job, Katsu." My heart stopped. The cloaked, yellow-eyed man walked around to stand by her. "Hello, there, darling."  
"You-you brought him here, didn't you?"  
"Of course I did, little sister. We waited there for you to come out, but you either found a good place to hide, or dear little Tsudoshi taught you to transform into a Nymph."  
I clenched my teeth together. "I won't forgive you for this, Katsu. And if it takes the rest of my life, I will take your life."  
"I don't think you're going to have time for that," the man said.  
My heart was pounding, but I wasn't going to let him know that. I needed to remain calm, think rationally.  
"So what are we going to do with her, anyway?"  
"We're going to use her as bait to find the other two. I'm sure we can figure out a way to do that."  
Smoke. Why was I smelling smoke? "You're not getting rid of me that easily, you bastard! Get away from my sister!" Big Brother? He was barely on his feet, but he was making his way here. "Seishiryu," he limped passed me, "this is going to be my last stand. You have to get out of here." His voice was breathless, weak, and I could see that he was on his last leg. He smelled strongly of smoke. When he had his back to me, I could see why. There was a large portion of his back that was burnt to a crisp.  
How was he still standing? "Big Brother. . . ."  
He still had one last knife in his hand. "Start it up, Seishiryu. Go."  
"You? How many times do I have to kill you before you stay dead?"  
"Unfortunately for you," he panted, "you bit off too much for you to chew." His head turned toward Katsu. "And you, leasing this monster on our family! You have no idea what he's done to us before. You are singlehandedly responsible for destroying our family."  
"Like I really care, brother. Did you know, he's only our half brother? He's mother's bastard son from a previous marriage."  
"I'll just finish you off quickly. Beheading you seemed too extreme before, but I guess that's the only way to get rid of a roach, tear it to pieces." There was a kunai in his hand as he said it.  
"Don't bother," Big Brother panted. "I'm on my way out. I only have one more move. One move I hoped never to use. Seishiryu, get out of here."  
I backed away, turned, and started to run.  
"Throw it, don't let her get away, but don't hit a vital spot."  
"Got it."  
Looking back, I saw the rose-petaled attack rushing for me. I jerked to the side, but the attack brushed my face. Knocking me sideways, I rolled, got to my feet again, but I felt the blood stream down my cheek. Another blast hit my side. I kept running, holding on with one hand while I pressed my other hand to my side. Feeling the warmth of blood, I tried to go faster.  
Something sharp bit into my shoulder, and I reached back, feeling a throwing needle embedded deep in my shoulder. Glancing back, I saw my brother start to glow a deep, forest green color. The glow strengthened, growing. He turned to look back at me. "Get out of here, now! If you get caught in this, it could kill you!"  
Yanking the needle out of my shoulder, I threw it to the ground.  
An outward explosion of energy threw me forward. I rolled, and I felt my ribs ache from the running, or attacks, I wasn’t sure, but I stood quickly, and kept running. All three of them were on the ground, but I could still sense that Katsu and the cloaked man were alive, while Big Brother's energy had left him. He was gone. The other two's energies had lessened, but they were still alive. He'd essentially blown himself up.  
But no, he was moving. I stopped, turned, eyes wide. Big Brother pushed himself up onto his elbows and knees. I could see him panting. I wasn’t that far away. His energy was barely, barely there.   
“Big Brother!” I started to move toward him.   
He looked back at me, panic flashing across his face. The cloaked man was moving again, and Big Brother climbed to his feet, barely standing, and half-limped, half-ran toward me. “I told you to run, dammit!”  
I ran to him, meeting him more than halfway, wrapping my arms around his waist. “Big Brother, I can’t go without you!”  
He picked me up again, and I could see over his shoulder that the cloaked man was starting to sit up. Big Brother ran, toward the forest, leapt over the fence in one, quick bound, and we were suddenly surrounded by trees. But he was limping badly, and breathing laboredly. His arms were shaking as he held me, and after maybe three minutes, he stopped, collapsed to his knees, and sat me down. “Seleh,” he panted, “see that bush? Hide there.”   
I looked up at him. His face was cut up and burnt, bloody, and his eyes were listless. Big Brother was exhausted, that much I could see. “You hide with me. Please, Big Brother.”  
He shook his head. “No, Seleh. No, I can’t.” He offered his wrist to me. “Drink, please. There’s nothing else I can give you to protect you now. Drink, heal yourself.”   
“Big Brother-!”  
“Drink!”  
I jumped, and grabbed his wrist. His blood was earthy, but weak. His blood held no power. It was as though I was drinking the blood of a dead person. His eyes had closed, and he was swaying on his knees, so I backed away, wiping my mouth. “I-I did it.”  
His eyes opened slowly, and I felt my heart skip a beat. “Goodbye, Seleh.” He hugged me, then shoved me down to the ground. I landed in a deep, wet mud puddle, sinking in up to my elbows. Before I could react, he had grabbed mud and rubbed it into my hair, and skin, quickly. “This will help you hide,” he whispered. “They’re coming. You need to stay hidden. Do not come out, no matter what you hear.”   
I nodded, sniffling. “B-Big Brother, a-are you . . . will you . . . find me?”  
He smiled, but the smile was tired. “Yes, Little Sister, I will find you. No matter what.” He pulled me to my feet, hugged me again, and kissed the one clean spot on my forehead. “I love you,” he said softly, arms tight around me. I could feel his energy leaving him, even as he knelt here with me. He let out a breath, then pushed me gently toward the bush. “Go. Hide in that bush. Don’t come out.” He stood, watched me scramble in the thick, green, bushy bush.   
I stayed low to the ground, barely able to see through the thick bush. Keeping my breathing low, and silent, I sat, motionless, watching Big Brother.   
He stayed still, staring off into the distance, as though he was watching something, with a small smile on his face.  
Sounds, footsteps. I turned quickly–cursing myself afterward because the bush rustled–to see the cloaked man. I clasped my hands over my mouth.  
“Where is she?”  
Big Brother turned, that soft, happy smile on his face. “On her way to safety. You’ll never catch up to her. I found her horse.”  
“You. You could’ve survived all this, if only you’d cooperated.”  
“I will not let my father down. You cannot have my sisters.”  
“He is not your father.”  
“He is my father. And I refuse to let you have the people he sacrificed his life to keep away from you.”  
A small, muffled sound, almost like a laugh. “And you, too. You’ve sacrificed your life as well, haven’t you?”  
“That’s right, I have,” he said softly.  
“It almost seems a waste of energy to help you along, but, alas, you’ve been a nuisance for so long, I don’t trust your ability to just die.” There was a blur, I saw nothing, and then suddenly a sword sticking out of Big Brother’s back. The cloaked man was standing in front of him, too close, one hand cupping the back of his head, the other hidden between them.  
I gasped, I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t stop it. I gasped, tensing.  
But he didn’t seem to hear. He took a deep breath. “Your death is in vain, for I will find those three rats.” He backed away, yanking the sword out of his chest.  
Big Brother’s body slipped to the ground, falling with a thunk, and I had no doubts now that he would not get up again.   
My breathing was a little fast again.   
And the yellow eyes were on me again. He was holding the sword at the ready, and coming toward me.   
Then something caught his attention. He turned toward a strange sound, and it took me a minute to recognize the sound as a galloping horse. Then he was off, after the horse.   
I waited a moment, but that almost-capture sent me spiraling into panic. This wasn’t a good hiding place. I had to get back to the Waterfall Place. That was a good hiding place.   
So once again, I took off running toward the Waterfall Place. I wasn’t far from it, so it took mere minutes to get there, and I approached the water, then stopped, taking a few, shaky, deep breaths.   
“Seishiryu?”   
I know that voice! I whirled, eyes locking onto Tsudoshi. “Tsu! Tsu!” I started to run toward her, stopping just a couple feet away, because something about her seemed off. “A-are you hurt?”  
She shook her head, smiling at me, and stepped a little closer. “I’m fine. Why are you covered in mud?”  
I hesitated, feeling like I needed to back away, but not knowing why. “Sister?”  
“Se! Seishiryu!”  
My head turned toward that voice instantly. “Shi! Oh, Shi, you’re-you’re alright!”   
She stared worriedly at me. “Se, g-get away from her.” I could see Tsu stepping out from the trees behind her.  
“Shi? T-Tsu?” I looked back–  
A sharp pain in my abdomen brought me to my knees. When I looked up, Tsu’s face slowly melted away, turning into Katsu. She sneered angrily down at me. “This time, you won’t get lucky!” She grabbed my hair, pulled my face downward, and kneed upward at the same time.  
I tasted the blood and saw black before I felt the pain. I suddenly couldn’t breathe, and was choking on my own blood. A moment later, I was thrown through the air. I hit the water hard, and everything went black.   
The next thing I was aware of, I was being pulled quickly through the water. I couldn’t open my eyes. I couldn’t breathe. I still could taste blood. My lungs were burning, head swimming, and suddenly, we were falling.   
Then I was pulled up, up, and into open air. “Se?” Tsu’s voice was worried, and I tried to force my eyes open, but I just couldn’t. She pulled me until I felt ground, and pulled me out of the water, holding my hand when she had me set safely on the ground. “Squeeze my hand if you can hear me! Please!”  
I squeezed.   
She sat me up, patted my back hard, and I spat water out.   
I forced my eyes open. We were in a smaller cave than I knew about. “W-where-?” It hurt to talk.   
“There’s a cave under the cave behind the waterfall. I brought you here. It’s safe.”  
“Shi?”  
“She’s getting help. It’ll be okay.”   
“H-help?”  
She lay me down, and I tried to look at her, but my vision couldn’t focus. “Are you okay? I have to go help her.”  
I nodded, rolling limply to my side. My hand fell over the edge of the ground, into the water. I didn’t care. “I’m fine.” But I wasn’t entirely sure that I was. Even as I spoke to her, I felt blackness eating at my vision.  
Tsu nodded, and dove back into the water. “I’ll be right back!” And she was gone.  
I let myself drift in and out of consciousness. I preferred that to being fully conscious. It was too painful.   
When Tsu came back, she flinched as she pulled herself out of the water, favoring her left shoulder. But after that, things got blurry, fuzzy. She pulled me through the water again after instructing me not to breathe. I had to focus hard to stay conscious for that. Once pulled out of the water, I was faced with Shi.   
“Se?” Shi waved a hand in front of my face. I watched her listlessly. She bit her lower lip. “Sh-she’s not doing good, Tsu. We need to get her help, right now, or . . . or I don’t know what will happen.”  
“Can you bandage her?”  
I drifted again. I vaguely felt it as they bandaged me, but I paid no attention to their talking.   
Until, “I could only find Se’s horse. I couldn’t find ours.”  
“It’s okay. Papa trained them to carry all three of us bareback. We can put Se in the saddle, and tie her in, and sit behind her.”  
“Yea, that’s what we’ll do. We can’t not be on horseback. We need speed. We need to get Se help.”  
“I-I’m fine,” I blurted out, wincing when I heard how garbled my own voice was.  
They ignored me, and I left the conversation again. I retreated into my own head, vaguely aware of being tied onto my own horse moments later. Shi climbed up behind me, and Tsu seated herself in front, giving me something to lean against, while Shi wrapped her arms around me.   
We started moving, and I drifted in and out again.   
Shi suddenly tensed behind me, and I forced myself awake. Voices. Shi was still, barely breathing. “Stariyanna can’t gallop at her best pace with all three of us,” Shi said softly.  
“What do we do?”  
“Se needs to find help.” Shi was suddenly gone, and I slumped against Tsu. “We will have to draw them away.”  
I tried to straighten then, but could barely hold myself up. “N-no, you guys, you c-can’t.”  
“We led them away before! We’ll do it again.” Tsu slid down next, and I could barely stay conscious as she tied me more securely to my horse. “Besides, Shi’s right. Stariyanna can’t gallop at her best pace if we’re all three on her. We need to find our horses.” She smiled. “We’ll catch up!”  
“No, Big Brother said-!”  
“We love you, Se!” Shi interrupted me, then slapped Stariyanna’s hindquarters, yelling, “Hyahh!”  
Stariyanna took off, and I clung with all I had to consciousness. “N-no! Tsu, Shi! Please don’t go!” But after struggling against whatever was tying me to my horse, I lost consciousness again. In and out, in and out, I drifted. When I was conscious, I fought against the ties, but I couldn’t stay conscious long enough to make a difference.  
I don’t know how long I kept drifting in and out, but finally, I became a little more clearheaded. I could keep my eyes open finally. I could barely breathe still, but I was conscious. At least enough to untie myself, so I did.  
And immediately fell from my horse. My wounds protested, and I gasped, whimpering in pain. Stariyanna stopped immediately, turning her head to look at me almost reproachfully. It was hard, trying to stand. My legs wouldn’t support me easily.   
Stariyanna, seeming to sense this, lay beside me, and I climbed onto her back that way. But she wouldn’t turn, when I tried to make her turn. She wouldn’t turn back. “Stariyanna, please! I have to find them. We have to go back!”  
Instead, she kept going forward, galloping now at her fastest pace. She refused to stop, slow down, or turn around.  
So I called for them. “Shisan! Tsudoshi! Shi! Tsu! Tsu! Shi! Please, anyone! Anybody!”  
And I kept calling for them.  
But they weren’t going to come. 


	2. Lost in The Woods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Hey, kid,” he greeted softly. “Do you know where you are?”  
>  She shook her head. “They’re all dead,” was her answer. “All of them. They’re gone. Papa, Mama’s throat, Big Brother, sisters. . . . They’re gone.” Her eyes cleared slightly, moisture brimming over, making streaks in the mud and blood on her face. “They saved me. Why did they save me? Why me?” Her eyes dipped, almost closing, and it seemed like an effort to keep them open. “They’re all gone. It was her. Katsu. She did this. And yellow eyes. Glowing. Evil. I hate them. I hate them both.” It was definitely an effort for her to breathe now. “Am I . . . am I gonna die?”

_The moon had come out finally after a long storm, with a red tint to it. The light of the Blood Moon gave everything a slightly eerie look to it. It was an odd night all around, though._   
_At least everything smelled nice._   
_“Nii-San?”_   
_“Hm?” he hummed, not really paying attention, but then he looked up from wiping down his kunais, realizing he’d been spoken to._   
_His little brother pointed to the moon. “The moon is red.”_   
_He turned his face up toward the moon for a quick glance, but then returned to his work. “It’s called the Blood Moon. It’s an omen of change.”_   
_He was still staring at the moon. “Bad change, or good change?”_   
_“Well, now that depends on how you view change. All change can have some good, and some bad.”_   
_“Some changes are just bad though.”_   
_“Like?”_   
_“Death.” He glanced at his brother. “It is called the Blood Moon, right? So why is it called the Blood Moon? Because it’s red? Or because it’s bad?”_   
_“Because it’s red. Don’t think about death, Nii-Chan.” He reached over and ruffled his little brother’s hair. “Change can be good.”_   
_Something moved through the forest, to his left. He only caught a glimpse of it, but it was white, and loud. The bushes rustled. “Nii-San-?”_   
_He was already on his feet, creeping toward the movement. “Stay here, Sasuke.” The small clearing they’d set up camp in was surrounded by tall trees and thick bushes, and he was cautious as he brushed past the foliage._   
_There was movement, not that far ahead. Something large and white was moving through the forest, stopping every so often. It only took a moment for him to identify the movement as a horse. That horse would stop every so often and look back, and it took a few minutes of him following the horse before he realized the horse was looking at him._   
_Is it leading me?_   
_Even with the moon’s light, it was still eerily dark, but the horse was so white, it almost glowed in the dark. It made it easy to follow through the slowly thickening foliage. The horse didn’t stop until it reached a rather large tree, and once it did, it turned to watch him approach, standing stock still as he did._   
_This is not a wild horse. A wild horse would have run by now._   
_But this one stood still, seeming as though it was waiting. And then he stepped past a particularly thick, tall tree, and noticed something lying at the horse’s hooves. The horse was standing almost protectively over a small, cloaked figure, sniffing around the body, nudging it._   
_And then he looked closer at the horse, eyes narrowing a bit as he picked out its features._   
_“S-Se-Seishiryu!” The little boy, whom he hadn’t even noticed had followed, darted past his brother before he could grab him, and dropped to his knees beside the cloaked figure without a second thought. He was pulling back the cloak as Itachi made his way over._   
_“How did you know it was her?” he asked, kneeling beside his brother._   
_“That’s her horse. Who else would be riding Stariyanna?” His voice was so matter of fact, even as he used the corner of her cloak to clear the mud from her face. He froze when clearing the mud away revealed the still bleeding wound above her top, left temple. Blood still covered half her face, but he hadn’t noticed that until he’d uncovered the wound. His hands shook, and he dropped the cloak from suddenly numb fingers. “N-Nii-Chan . . . wh-why is she bleeding?”_   
_“Go get Tousan, Sasuke.”_   
_He turned wide, round eyes up to his brother. “B-but-!”_   
_“Go, now!” He bent closer to examine the wound, and noticed how light her breathing was. Sasuke cannot be here right now. “Go!”_   
_He jumped to his feet at that command, turned, and bolted into the darkness._   
_Itachi held two fingers under her nose, checking how strong her breath was, before then checking her pulse. Both were weak, and he felt a slight panic when he realized he’d have to check her for other wounds. “Bring Kakashi-San too!” He’d risen his voice to be heard over his brother’s stomping footsteps, hoping he’d hear. “Seishiryu,” he breathed her name out in a sigh, “what happened to you?”_   
_The horse, now that he was actually looking, also had blood matted in her coat, and her mane. Where it looked like it had been grabbed._   
_When he checked, her hands were indeed bloody, with one, long, ragged cut across her left palm, and many small cuts across her left wrist and hand. The back of her left hand also had a rather ragged, long cut, and he wondered if this was the result of a penetrative wound, and not a mere cut. He didn’t want to check further, but he took a deep breath, steeled himself, and poked at the wound to discover that, yes, it was a penetrative wound in her left hand._   
_The wound on her head was deep, too, but not too deep. Not deep enough to be fatal. Head wounds always bled the most. She also had several small cuts and scrapes across her face, when he carefully broke more dried mud away. She was wearing a thin, long nightgown that was at one point white, but now was saturated with blood._   
_Someone knelt at his left side, and another across from him over Seishiryu. Kakashi, to his left, took a quick inventory of the injuries he could see and asked, “What do you think? Think she’ll make it?”_   
_Something about the question made a lump form in his throat. “I . . . I don’t know.”_   
_Kakashi turned to look at the younger teen, then gave a slight nod, and nudged him out of the way. “I will examine her. You check the perimeter, make sure it’s safe.”_   
_Gratefully, Itachi stood, tore his gaze from her, and walked away._   
_“He’s unusually soft,” his father commented._   
_“It’s always harder when it’s a kid,” Kakashi said softly. The nightgown was glued to her skin by blood, and he carefully worked to pull it away. He check her legs first, which were also scraped, cut, and bruised, and one thicker, ragged gash on her hip that was also still oozing blood. A wound on her side, her shoulder, and, turning her carefully with the help of Fugaku, several wounds across her shoulders, and one small puncture mark in the center of her upper back. Two, long, straight, deep cuts in a V were scabbed over, probably the only wounds not bleeding. They also looked to be the cleanest, while also the deepest._   
_He set her back down gently, sighing. “I’m gonna be honest, it doesn’t look good.”_   
_Her chest rose and fell with a deep, harsh breath, and her eyes struggled, and managed, to open. Those strangely familiar white eyes were dull and slightly glazed, not the usual bright, almost glowing, perceptive white. Another harsh breath. “K-Kakashi?” Her voice was weak, breathy._   
_“Hey, kid,” he greeted softly. “Do you know where you are?”_   
_She shook her head. “They’re all dead,” was her answer. “All of them. They’re gone. Papa, Mama’s throat, Big Brother, sisters. . . . They’re gone.” Her eyes cleared slightly, moisture brimming over, making streaks in the mud and blood on her face. “They saved me. Why did they save me? Why me?” Her eyes dipped, almost closing, and it seemed like an effort to keep them open. “They’re all gone. It was her. Katsu. She did this. And yellow eyes. Glowing. Evil. I hate them. I hate them both.” It was definitely an effort for her to breathe now. “Am I . . . am I gonna die?”_   
_“No,” Itachi butted in, dropping to his knees, before Kakashi could say anything. He didn’t like the sluggish way she looked at him, or the way her white eyes were dull and glassy. “No, you’re gonna be fine. You’ll be okay.”_   
_“Itachi.” There was relief in her voice then. “Is . . . Sasuke . . . ?”_   
_“He’s here,” he reassured her. “I can get-?”_   
_“No.” The answer was firm. Harsh. “I don’t . . . I don’t want him to . . . see me die.”_   
_He reached out to touch her cheek. “You’re not going to die. You’re going to be okay.”_   
_She shook her head, closing her eyes, turned her face away. “I don’t want to be okay. Not without . . . my family.” The last two words were barely audible, and her voice cracked._   
_“Se-!”_   
_“She’s out,” Kakashi interrupted. “She’s not going to hear you now.”_   
_“She’s not . . . ?”_   
_“No. Not yet.” A pause. “Itachi, go get the carrier.” He waited for him to leave, then turned to look at Fugaku. “I’m going to take her back to the village. It’ll be faster if I go by myself. You go to her village. Find out what happened. See if there are any other survivors. But I’m going myself. If she doesn’t get help now, she isn’t going to make it. I didn’t want to say that in front of your sons, but-.”_   
_Fugaku’s gaze snapped to the side, locking in on something._   
_With a sigh, he stopped talking, then turned his head, eyes immediately catching onto one straggler in the bushes._   
_Sasuke stood there, hiding partially behind a tree, peering out with wide, round eyes. He ducked behind the tree as soon as Kakashi turned._   
_“Never mind that then,” he said softly. “Sasuke, get back to the camp.”_   
_After a moment, he heard the retreating footsteps. He shook his head, and slowly began bandaging the wounds he was capable of bandaging. “They’re far too attached to do any good with me, Fugaku. Send them later. They might try to keep up with me, but there’s not enough time.”_   
_“I’ll keep Itachi here for an extra day, give you a head start. And then I’ll send him back with Sasuke and Mikoto.”_   
_“Alright, that’s plenty of time for a head start. Even half a day is enough.”_   
_“They’ll do more good here preparing for the journey home.”_   
_A nod. “Hopefully, they’ll listen to that. Those boys are headstrong.” He smiled slightly under his mask. “Wonder where they get that from?” The hand was a little more difficult to bandage, just due to how small she was. “Seven years old, how did she survive this . . . ?”_   
_“She’s tough,” Fugaku said softly, appraising the small figure before him. “Imagine, watching your family die, escaping from that, and then having the strength to tell what happened, before dying.”_   
_“I’m not going to let her die.” He said that a little more harshly than he intended. “She’s just a kid. If I can’t save her, then . . . what’s the use? I’ll get her back in time.”_   
_“Don’t take it personally if you can’t save her. You heard what she said. She herself doesn’t even want to survive. She might give up on you long before you get her back.”_   
_“Hm.” He turned his focus inward, pulling his Chakra up from the depths of his core, into his hands, which he then placed on her chest, over her heart. “That’s not an option.”_   
_Fugaku watched the Chakra transfer in silence. When he saw Itachi returning with the carrier, he tapped Kakashi’s gloved hand once, then nodded toward the direction his eldest son was coming from._   
_Kakashi gave a slight, affirmative nod, and released his Chakra, sitting back. He’d bandaged the wounds he could, so he stood, strapped the carrier on, and turned toward Itachi. “Here’s the plan. You are going to keep Sasuke and Mikoto here for an extra day, then head back. I’m taking her with me. I’ll be faster moving alone.”_   
_He was pleasantly pleased, but not really surprised, when Itachi nodded. “I understand. I’ll keep them here.” He knelt, gently picked up the limp girl, and stood. With his Father’s help, he strapped her into the carrier, then stepped away. “Just . . . get her help.”_   
_“Of course.” He forced optimistic enthusiasm into his voice. “I’ll get her there in time, Itachi. That’s a promise.”_   
_Itachi held out his hand. “I accept your promise.”_   
_A quick, short, slightly tense handshake later, Kakashi turned toward the direction Konoha lay, and sped off without another word._   
_Fugaku watched him for a moment. “Itachi . . . how is Sasuke?”_   
_His shoulders fell slightly. “He’s . . . not taking it well.”_   
_“Tell him to trust Kakashi. If anyone can get her back in time, it’ll be him.” He avoided looking at his son. “And . . . the girl’s tough. She’ll be fine.”_   
_“And what then, Tousan? If she is fine? If she makes it?” He turned toward his father, crossing his arms, almost defiant. “She can’t just go back to Hoshigakure. She’ll be at risk there.”_   
_Fugaku avoided his son’s gaze for just a moment before turning toward him to meet his eyes. Black met black, determination met determination. “Seishiryu has now, and always, the protection of the Uchiha. She is one of us, as outlined in the contract signed between her family and ours. Sending her back is out of the question.”_   
_“And you’ll tell the Hokage this.” It wasn’t a question._   
_One, precise nod. “Yes. I will tell the Hokage this. She will stay with us.”_   
_A slight pause, where tension released. “I should come with you to Hoshigakure.”_   
_“No, Itachi. Sasuke needs your support right now.” A slight sigh. “Besides, I would feel much better about leaving your mother and Sasuke if you are with them. Whoever attacked that Hyuuga family could still be around.”_   
_“Don’t you mean-?”_   
_“I said what I meant, and I meant what I said.”_   
_A moment passed. The horse was anxious, stamping her hooves, neighing. She clearly wanted to stick with her rider. “Come now, Stariyanna,” Itachi lightly patted her neck, “I’ll take you to her.”_   
_“I’ll see about bringing back that black horse Sasuke was so fond of,” Fugaku stepped into place beside Itachi, as they walked back to the campsite, “but we’re going to have to find a place away from home to keep them. I am not so fond of the smell.”_


	3. Craving Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “T-then what . . . what do I do?” The words were broken, soft, and I winced at the weakness they implied.  
>  “You live. You listen to the medics. You get up, out of this bed, let your body heal, let your mind heal, and you don’t dishonor your family by giving up. They gave you the most precious thing they could to keep you going. They gave you their lives. Don’t you think they deserve honor?”  
>  I nodded.   
>  “Then honor them by getting up. Getting better. Living your life to the best of your ability. Don’t throw it away, and give up, because it’s hard. I know it’s hard, and everyone will tell you it gets easier. It gets better. The truth is, it doesn’t. It doesn’t get better. It doesn’t get easier.” 

Sounds. There was a steady _beep, beep, beep,_ the sound of movement, rustling cloth, and soft, vague voices. The more I concentrated on the voices, the clearer it became, and the more I could hear. Breathing. Coughing. Clanging.   
I was also becoming more aware of the harsh lighting. Even with my eyes closed, the lighting made me want to cover my head. It was far too bright.   
“She’s doing fine, Kakashi-San. You got her here just in time, I think. Any later, and I don’t think she’d be as lucky.”  
“How long will she be hospitalized?”  
“A few weeks, perhaps. Depends on if she has anywhere else to go that can offer her good care. I heard the Uchiha Clan has proposed taking her in.”  
I winced upon hearing that name, and suddenly started to remember what had happened. My thoughts were a little fuzzy. I felt tired, and though there was pain, it was distant. Dizzy, I was dizzy too. It was hard to concentrate.  
“Seishiryu?”   
Reluctant to do so, I forced my eyes open. I was in a white, sterile room, hooked up to machines. There was a needle in my arm, and I was strapped down, unable to move. I sought out faces, trying to make sense of how I got here.  
Kakashi sat on the windowsill, a book haphazardly held on his knee, gaze on me. “You’re awake.” He seemed surprised.  
“W-where am I?” My mouth was dry. “I-thirsty.”  
A sponge was offered to me. “As you are hooked up to fluids,” the woman leaning over me said upon seeing my expression, “you aren’t dehydrated, and you can’t move right now. So here, this will help with your dry mouth.”  
I sucked on the sponge for a moment, and it did help. Letting it go, I turned to look at Kakashi. “Wh-what . . . ? How? Where?”  
“You’re in Konoha. You’re safe.”   
I waited patiently for the rest of my answers, but he just sat there, watching me. “Oookay. And? How?” My mouth didn’t really want to cooperate with me in forming coherent sentences, it seemed. I could barely feel my body.  
“You need to rest, Shiryu,” he told me, unknowingly calling me my father’s nickname for me.  
My breath caught painfully in my throat, chest tightening, and I turned to look at the ceiling. I could feel the hot, wet tears seep from my eyes even as I stared unblinkingly at the ceiling. “Why . . . ?”   
“Why, what? Why are you here?” He set the book on the windowsill and stood, ambling toward my cot. “You needed medical care.”  
“I didn’t want it.”  
“And you think that would make things better?” His expression, voice, even his body language was intense when he sat on the edge of the cot. “Your whole family sacrificed themselves so you could get away. You said that. They gave their lives so you could live. Not so you could die in the woods alone.”  
“I don’t want-!”  
“Well, that’s _selfish_!” he snapped, eye burning down at me. His hands were clenched into fists at his knees. “Throwing away their sacrifice, their deaths, because you don’t want to honor their wishes, because you want to give up–that’s not for them. That’s for you. And that’s selfish.”  
“Kakashi-San, she-!”  
“No! She needs to hear this.” He didn’t even look at the nurse, just glared down at me. “You said it yourself. Your family, they died so you could get away. Right?”  
I nodded wordlessly.  
“Do you want their deaths to be for nothing? Do you want them to have died for no reason?”  
“N-no, but-!”  
“Then don’t give up. Don’t throw away their lives.” His words, and voice, softened. “Your family wanted you to live. Your family wanted you safe. You came out of a massacre, because your family did everything they could to save you, and you want to throw that away. Instead of honoring them, their lives, their deaths, you want to dishonor them, and yourself, by giving it all up. That’s the most selfish thing you could do.”  
“T-then what . . . what do I do?” The words were broken, soft, and I winced at the weakness they implied.  
“You live. You listen to the medics. You get up, out of this bed, let your body heal, let your mind heal, and you don’t dishonor your family by giving up. They gave you the most precious thing they could to keep you going. They gave you their lives. Don’t you think they deserve honor?”  
I nodded.   
“Then honor them by getting up. Getting better. Living your life to the best of your ability. Don’t throw it away, and give up, because it’s hard. I know it’s hard, and everyone will tell you it gets easier. It gets better. The truth is, it doesn’t. It doesn’t get better. It doesn’t get easier.”   
My heart stopped.  
“But you get stronger. You get better. And you never forget to honor them, and honor the lives they gave for you.” He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “Honor them, Seishiryu, because they can’t honor themselves anymore.”  
I nodded again. “O-okay,” I breathed. “I . . . I’ll honor them.”  
He stood, nodded once down at me, and strode to the door quickly. Pausing at the door, without turning, he said, “I hope you do, and I will too.”  
He left his book, I thought, looking from the door, to the windowsill. “He left his book.”  
The medic glanced toward the window carelessly, looked away, then lunged for the book. “I-uh, I’ll get it to him.”  
Honor them. But . . . how . . . how do I honor them, if they’re not here with me? What if I forget them? What if . . . what if I let them down. . . . It was becoming more foggy in my head, though. I turned my head toward the window so I could look out into the world, but my eyes were too heavy to look for long.   
Honor them. What if I’m not the right one to honor them?

  
The Uchiha family home was huge, and foreign, to me. The room they put me in, not far from the room Sasuke was in, didn’t feel like home. There was a big window that looked out into the forest, and that felt . . . that felt okay. But everything else just felt wrong. Foreign. Scary.   
The bed was smaller than I was used to. So was the room. It made me feel a bit claustrophobic. This place . . . it wasn’t home.  
“Seishiryu?” A small, soft voice behind me made me jump. Sasuke stood behind me when I whirled. He ducked his head slightly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”  
I glared at him. “What do you want?”  
“I-I just . . . wanted to make sure you’re, uh, o-okay.”   
I glared a moment longer, anger burning through my head. “No, I am not okay. Why would I be? My entire family is dead. I lost my village. I’m stuck in a village I don’t believe in. Of course I’m not okay!” But the anger left as soon as I yelled at him and saw his wide-eyed, open-mouthed stare. I felt depleted, drained. “I . . . I didn’t mean . . . I’m sorry.” I started to turn away.  
He grabbed my wrist, pulled me toward him to grab me in a hug. “It’s okay. I’m sorry for scaring you.”   
For a moment, I leant into the hug. It was nice. Then I drew away, because I couldn’t trust myself not to dissolve right now. “Don’t,” I breathed. “Don’t do that. Not now.”  
“What? Hug you?”   
I nodded.  
“Why?”  
“Because I can’t right now.”  
“Can’t what?”  
“I can’t cry.”  
He started to reach for me then, but I drew away, and he stopped. “O-okay, but . . . if you don’t cry now, you’ll never be able to stop when you do.”  
“I don’t ever want to.” I backed away from him more. “I’m fine. You can go now. I want to go to bed.”  
“Alright, okay. Yea. I’ll . . . uh, I’ll let you go to bed now. Goodnight, Seishiryu. If you, uh, if you need anything, I’ll be right down the hall.”  
“Thanks, but . . . I won’t need anything.”

  
 _Dark. It’s so dark. Yellow eyes. Chasing. Running. I can’t run fast enough. I can’t get away. I can’t escape. Yellow eyes following._  
 _Blood. There’s blood everywhere. Everywhere I look, dead bodies, and blood. I am suddenly running again. As fast as I can, through absolute darkness. I see nothing. I hear the pounding of my own heart. I hear footsteps behind me. Getting closer. Faster. The ground I ran on started sucking my feet in as I ran, slowing me down. More, and more, the ground pulled me in. I couldn’t pull my feet out fast enough. I couldn’t run._  
 _Then there they were. Glowing yellow eyes, right in front of me, and white, skeletal hands, reaching for me._  
I screamed, jerking away. It was still dark, but I was sitting straight up in a bed I didn’t recognize, in a room I didn’t know. I jumped out of the bed, clawing at the air around me, at my own skin, trying to break free of . . . what? There was a window. I leapt out of the window in a single bound and took off running, as fast as I could, toward the forest.   
Something was chasing me. The yellow eyes were following. I could feel them. Chasing, getting closer. I wasn’t fast enough. Still.   
I ran, faster, pumping my legs as hard, as fast as I could. My nightgown caught on a thorn, and I panicked, screamed, tearing at the nightgown. A wet, thick rrriiipppp, and I was running again–until I was tackled, pulled to the ground. I screamed, fighting, clawing at the arms pulling me down, kicking, punching–fighting as hard as I could, screaming.   
I was wrestled down to the ground, pushed down, held immobile, but I continued to scream and thrash. A hand pressed to my mouth, hard, muffling my screams. Over that, I heard, “Se! Se! Stop! Stop! Se, it’s me! It’s Sasuke! STOP!”  
My heart was pounding. I was panting, gasping for air, sobbing at the same time. All I could hear was blood rushing through my ears, my muffled screams, and my labored breath. It took several minutes before I heard myself saying, over and over, “Please, please, please.”  
“Se, stop, it’s me! It’s just me! Stop!”  
And I could see him again. Black eyes, staring frantically down at me. Once I saw him, and recognized him, the panic faded, slowly. It was just him. Just Sasuke. No yellow eyes. No Katsu. Nobody else. Just Sasuke. “S-Sasuke?” His hand muffled my voice.  
“Are you okay? Are you . . . better?”   
I nodded, and he moved his hand.   
His left cheek was bleeding. So was his lower lip. He wiped at his lip with the hand he’d had against my mouth, slowly sitting up. “Why did you run from me?”  
I looked away. “I . . . I thought . . . you were . . . someone else.”  
He seemed to study me for a minute. “Nightmares?”  
“Yea.”  
“Wanna talk about it?”  
I shook my head. “No.”  
He slowly got to his feet, moving a little jerkily. Then stretched his arms up high, then to the side. “Are you okay?” He finished his stretching and held a hand down to me.  
Not really sure I wanted to move just yet, I shifted my weight just enough to pull my nightgown up to my knee. It hurt, and felt like it was bleeding. It was. I’d ripped open the stitches from at least the cut on my knee. It felt like I’d ripped open my hip, too. And definitely my hand.   
“Oh!” He knelt back down, reaching out to touch my leg, but stopping himself just before he touched the blood. “Y-you’re hurt! You need to see the medic. I need to get-!”  
He’d started to stand, so I grabbed his arm with both of my hands. “No!” That came out a little loud. “Please. No. I . . . I don’t want to go back to the hospital. Please.”  
“But . . . you’re bleeding.”  
“Please, Sasuke. Can . . . can we just pretend this didn’t happen?”  
He hesitated. “But . . . you’re hurt.”  
“I’m fine,” I insisted. “I promise. I’m fine. I don’t need to go back to the hospital. I don’t want to be monitored again. Please.”  
He stared at me with a thoughtful expression, and I could hear the wheels turning in his head. “Okay,” he spoke slowly, “if you agree to one thing.”  
“What’s that? Anything.”  
“Let me carry you back.”  
I jerked. “W-what? No! I don’t need-!”  
“Nii-San! Okaasan!”   
“Okay! Okay!” I sighed. “Okay.”  
He turned and knelt. “Climb on.”  
“You can’t . . . you’re not strong enough-!”  
“Climb on,” he said louder, more insistently.   
I whined, but wrapped my arms around his shoulders. He stood, and wrapped his arms around my legs, pulling them around his waist at the same time. Then he was running, and I held on to him. “I’ve got this. Just hang on!”  
The run back was quick. It felt like I’d reached much further than I actually had, but I really hadn’t gotten that far. “You . . . you caught me pretty fast.”  
“Well, you got stuck on the thornbush, and you aren’t really that fast to begin with, being injured and all.” He sounded a little winded, but other than that, seemed fine. “Your limp slows you down a lot. Hold on tight, okay?”  
“Mhm.”  
He let go of my legs to climb in through the window. And we both tensed.  
Itachi stood in the doorway, watching. “Are you two okay?” He immediately saw the blood on the nightgown and dropped his crossed arms to his sides, rushing forward. “You’re bleeding.”  
“I-I’m fine.”  
Sasuke set me down, gave me a look, and turned to Itachi. “She tore her stitches.”  
I gave him a dirty look. “I don’t want to go to the hospital.”  
“You don’t have to, but let me take a look at your injuries. I’ll take care of it.”  
I hesitated, but nodded. “Okay.” I sat on the edge of the bed, and pulled the nightgown up to my knees.  
He knelt, checking the cut out. “It’s not bad. Let me see your hand.” He held his hand out for mine, gave it a quick look over, and sighed. “I’ll get the bandages.” Standing, he strode to the door, leaving it open.  
“I . . . I have an idea. Stay here!” Sasuke shot me a smile before darting out of the room. “Nii-San, wait!”  
The forest, it really was beautiful. At least that was an upside. Standing at the window, looking out, I felt a little more at ease. It made me feel safer. Better. Not by much, but just enough. And it was beautiful out there. With a sigh, I closed the window. It wasn’t a good idea to have it open if I was going to have nightmares like that.  
“Se?” Sasuke came to stand beside me at the window. He had a cup in his hand. “Are you okay?”  
I nodded. “I . . . I’m okay. I just thought . . . it was safer closing the window. So I can’t run out again.”  
He nodded, turning toward me, leaning one shoulder against the window. “I agree. That’s better than leaving it open.” He held the cup out to me. “Drink.”  
Well, that looks familiar. “Is that . . . ? That stuff you made me drink, two years ago?”  
Another nod. “Yes. It’ll make you feel better.” A slight smile. “It’s not as hot as it was then. I promise.”  
I took the cup, gave him a look. “Are you going to make me drink it, like last time?”  
“Yes.”  
With a heavy sigh, I brought the cup to my lips, took a small, tentative drink. Okay. It’s not as bad as before. It’s still really spicy, though. “What is this made of? It’s like actual fire.”  
“It’s . . . a family recipe.”  
I glared at him. “Do I have to?”  
“It’ll make you feel better. I promise.” His smile widened. “And I never break my promises.”  
Another heavy sigh, and I tipped my head back and drank. There wasn’t that much of it this time, but it was still spicy. I finished the cup and handed it back to him. “This is gross. What is it? Seriously!”  
“I’ll tell you someday.” With that, and a big grin, he turned and bounded out of the room.   
Alone again, I sat on the bed, staring at the floor, then the wall. It took me a couple minutes before I could lay back down. I just didn’t feel safe. Or comfortable.   
A knock made me look toward the door. Sasuke stood there. “Can I come in?”  
I nodded. “Sure.”  
He pulled the door shut behind him, slowly ambling toward the bed. “Are you sure you don’t want to talk?”  
Shaking my head, I pulled the blanket up higher. “No. I don’t want to talk.”  
“Are you feeling any better?”  
Actually, yes. Strangely enough. “I feel fine.”  
“Better than before?”  
“Yeah.”   
He very lightly touched my hand, picking it up to look at it. Just as lightly, he ran his fingers down my hand.   
It didn’t hurt. My eyes widened, darting toward my hand. The cut is gone! I yanked my hand away. “W-what? How?! It-it’s gone!” I flashed a quick glance up at him.   
“It’s a good family remedy.”  
“What? H-how?!” I twisted, pulling my nightgown up to my hip. The wound there was also gone. The stitches were still there, just like my hand, but the cut was gone. I stretched, testing each muscle, each injury, that had been there. No soreness, no pain. Nothing. Everything felt pretty great, actually. “That’s not possible!”  
“It’s a family remedy.”  
“E-everything’s healed!”  
He nodded. “It’s what happened last time I made you drink it too. Don’t you remember?”  
“That’s what healed me? I thought. . . .”  
“That you healed by yourself? No! The remedy did it.”  
“But . . . Itachi-!”  
“I told Nii-San that I was going to give you the family remedy. He went back to bed.” There was a smile on his face still. “I think we should too. Are you okay now? Do you think you can sleep?”  
No. But I nodded. “I’ll be fine.”  
He smiled, and hopped off the bed. “Goodnight, Se. I’ll see you in the morning!”  
Watching him leave was almost . . . painful. There was a huge part of me that didn’t want to be alone. Why did I want him to stay? He’d reached the door, and was almost out of the room, before I called out to him.   
He stopped, turning toward me. “Yea?”  
This was a weird, hard thing to ask. I wanted to ask him to stay, but I wasn’t sure how. Or if I could. Staring at him, seeing his face, eager to help, willing to listen. . . . “N-never mind.”  
He blinked, brows furrowing above those expressive, black eyes. “Se? If you need something, tell me. It’s okay.” As if to soften words that didn’t need softened, he smiled at me, a soft, gentle smile.   
And I crumbled. It felt like my stomach filled with swirling water. I wanted to run again. “I just. . . . Would you . . . ?” I couldn’t look at him, so I focused on the foot of the bed. “Would you . . . stay?” The word came out soft, breathy, barely audible. “Ju-just for . . . just for a little while.”   
When I chanced a glance up toward his face, he had a sort of dazed look. He blinked, then smiled, and jogged toward the bed. “Y-yea, sure! I’ll stay.” He climbed into the bed, wiggling under the covers. “But scoot over, because I get the side closest to the door.”   
That made me roll my eyes, but . . . I did it. “Just for a little while. Until I fall asleep. Okay?”  
He nodded, settling back against the pillows. “Okay. I’ll stay.”


	4. (Not) Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a flash, it stopped a few dozen feet above us. It came closer, hovering a few feet now above my hands, and I directed it slowly to a spot next to us, a couple feet away from me, letting it drop.
> 
> My energy dropped sharply the instant the star was set on the hill. I swayed, started to fall, and an arm wrapped around my shoulders, keeping me upright. Glancing up, I met black, wide, shining eyes. I smiled. "'S'okay," I muttered. "Just don't touch it."
> 
> His older brother was standing now, too, staring at the glowing, fiery ball. "Did you do that, Seishiryu?" His voice shook just a bit.

_Yellow eyes, following me. I could hear the cloak sliding on the ground, rustling the air. Panting, I was panting. Running. My nightgown snagged on a rosebush, and I stopped to tug it free. As I did, I could see him coming. Closer, closer. He was whispering something, but I couldn't hear it clearly enough through the panic pounding in my head._

_Nightgown freed, I turned to run–only to stop short and see my sisters standing there, arms out. “You can't get past us! You won't get to my sister!” they said in unison._

_To my surprise, I could see myself behind them, cowering, afraid, crying, and I was moving. Looking down, I was wearing a black cloak. “You can't save her,” I said, but it wasn't me. The voice wasn't mine. I wasn't talking. “I will get her. I will get all three of you.” I raised my arm–but it wasn't my arm. There was a sword in my hand._

_My viewpoint switched. I was suddenly behind them, staring at the yellow-eyed man raising his sword. The sword whipped out before I could say anything, and blood flew. My sisters collapsed, Shi first, Tsu second. I screamed, and screamed, as he came closer._

My eyes snapped onto black eyes. I screamed again, pushing at the person above me. “Get away, get away!” I heard a grunt, a thump, and I turned, searching. There was a window in the unfamiliar room. I leapt to my feet, running toward it. I'd reached it when an arm closed around my waist. Another closed over my chest, pinning my arms down.

“Seishiryu, stop! You're going to get yourself hurt!”

“Let go! Let go of me!”

“No! You're going to get hurt! You don't know the area around here. You can't just go running off in a blind panic! Stop, calm down!” He clasped me to his chest, holding tight. “Stop struggling! Stop it!”

“Let go!”

“No!”

My legs shook, collapsing, and he was holding all my weight even as I tried to get my legs straightened. I was crying. All I could see was the blood, and the yellow eyes. Everywhere I looked, there he was. The man with the yellow eyes. I collapsed, and he lowered us to the floor, turning me around to clasp me to his chest. I grabbed onto his shoulders tightly, then wound my arms around his neck, clinging to him.

He held me, cupping the back of my head, silent. The free arm wrapped around my waist, and he pulled me closer. He said something softly, but I couldn't make his words out.

Clinging to him still, all I could see was the dream. The man. Yellow eyes, staring at me from the darkness of a hood. Blood, everywhere. And I started to hate him. As I sat there, crying, I began to learn the meaning of that word. A word I thought I'd never have reason to say.

I loved my family. Sometimes I thought I hated my sister, or even Sasuke, but I never really did. Not if this was anything to go by. This burning hatred that I felt now. It was a darkness in my heart that I'd never known before. Now I knew it. I knew it for the man with yellow eyes, and I knew it for my own flesh and blood. My own sister.

No, I amended. Not my sister. My sisters are Tsudoshi, and Shikotai. Sisters don't try to kill you. Sisters love you and want the best for you. They don't bring criminals to your home and destroy everything you've ever known. They don't plot the deaths of their families so they can be pitied. Kartwer Hoshikuzu, you are no sister of mine.

You are now my enemy.

  
“Sasuke, Seishiryu! Breakfast!”

My eyes opened slowly, wanting desperately to close. A groan fell from me. Why were my cheeks wet? My eyes were swollen. My cheek was pressed against what felt like skin. Blinking, I pushed myself up, only to be pulled back down by an arm around my waist. A groan came from under me. For a moment, I panicked, but when I looked up, I saw black, tousled hair, and closed eyes. I knew that face.

"Sasuke, Seishiryu! Breakfast! Come on down!" It was a woman yelling up at us.

It took me a minute, but the memories came. I'm at Sasuke's house. He . . . he must've stayed with me last night. Did I fall asleep on him? The last thing I could remember was crying and clinging to him. I couldn't remember anything past that. Only darkness.

"Sasuke, Seishiryu!"

He finally twitched, groaning again. "Ugh, I am hungry." His eyes opened while I was staring at him. He was staring up at the ceiling, a bemused look on his face, as though it took him a moment to remember, too. Then he smiled, closed his eyes again. "Did you sleep better, Seishiryu?"

I tensed. Though I hadn't had any nightmares after he came in, I was still very sleepy. Er, maybe not sleepy as much as tired. Not so much physically tired as emotionally.

He twitched, then laughed. "My arm is numb."

"O-oh!" I sprang up, and he let me this time. "S-sorry."

He shrugged, sitting up to stretch his arm. "'S'okay!" He smiled wider at me. "You fell asleep, and I carried you to the bed, but you wouldn't let go of me, so I just stayed."

My face warmed. I looked away. "Sorry," I said softly.

"'S'okay!" he repeated. "Any more nightmares?"

I shook my head, not looking at him. "No. I-I slept all right."

"Good." He stood, having taken the edge of the bed facing the door. "I'm glad you didn't have any nightmares, but I'm hungry! So let's go eat, okay?"

I nodded. "Okay. Sure."

He gestured to the dresser. "All the clothes we got you are in there. You should have plenty of clothes to choose from."

Nodding again, I pushed myself to the edge of the bed, avoiding looking at him. It was awkward around him, knowing he'd just witnessed me crying. I didn't ever want to do something like that again.

He stretched out his back, stretching his arms out behind him, yawning. "Ah. Well, I'm gonna go get dressed now." He started to turn, then stopped, and looked at me, head tilted. A minute later, he reached forward, grabbing me to pull me into a hug. "I won't let anyone hurt you." he said softly before letting go. With a small smile, he turned and walked out.

I walked to the dresser, opening the first drawer. The drawer was filled with shirts. The second drawer had shorts. The third had pants. The fifth had underwear. I chose a black, long-sleeved shirt and a pair of black pants, along with black underwear. Checking the shirt, I saw an odd symbol on the back. I tilted my head, staring at it.

A knock at my door. "May I come in?" The voice was familiar. The woman's voice.

I nodded, realized she couldn't see through the closed door, and said, "Uh, yea."

The door opened. The woman walked in. It was my first time really seeing her. She had long black hair pulled into a ponytail and kind, black eyes. She was very pretty, and looked very comforting, compassionate. She walked toward me slowly, smiling a kind smile. "I assume you are probably confused. Let's talk for a moment, okay?" She walked toward the bed, sitting and patting the edge.

Carrying the clothes, I walked to sit next to her.

"I'm sorry about your family, Seishiryu." She patted my knee. "It'll be okay, though. The Hokage will find out who was responsible, and they will be punished. However, that's not what I came here to talk to you about." She gently took the shirt from me, turning it over to trace the symbol on the back. "This is the symbol of our Clan. The Uchiha Clan. Because of that contract we signed with your family," she looked at me, "you are as good as family to us.

"And because of this, you can wear our symbol on your back. You are welcome here, and will be treated as family. The Hokage has okayed the idea of you becoming a Leaf Ninja, which means once you're ready, you will join Sasuke in the academy. I know it's probably not what you saw for your life, and maybe it even feels a bit like a betrayal to your own village to become a Leaf Ninja, but you are lucky, really, to be given that opportunity.

"We didn't expect the Hokage to be so generous with you, but I, for one, am grateful." She smiled. "I'm outnumbered by the guys here, and it's always nice to have a team member be added, you know? At least I can have someone to teach certain things to now. And I know you're better off here than being found by someone random in the forest. You're safe here, Seishiryu, surrounded by some of the strongest Ninja around. And I want you to know, you are welcome here, too." She smiled, tilting her head, eyes closing. "It's something we didn't see coming, but we will all make the best of it."

She stood. "Come. I will give you the grand tour of the complex after breakfast. Or Sasuke can, too. I'm sure he'd enjoy that."

"Mother, Sasuke has to get to the Academy," the voice came from the doorway. "And I have to go to finish my mission. Dad will be gone today, too, so it looks like you'll have to give her the grand tour."

She smiled. "Good. It's nice to have some girl time, isn't it?" She directed that smile at me.

And though I didn't admit it, the words "girl time" frightened me. I was never the most girly one. "I don't have to wear any gowns, do I?"

She shook her head. "No. You can wear what you've picked out. I just meant I would give you the tour, show you around, and teach you a few things that I haven't been able to teach my boys." She smiled at the boy in the doorway. "No offense, Itachi-Chan, but you don't have exactly have the best cooking skills or gardening skills."

He smiled back. "I know, mother. It's okay." He turned the smile to me. "It's been a couple years, but I hope you remember me."

I nodded. "You're Sasuke's brother. I remember you. You're the one that helped teach me how to throw a kunai."

His smile widened, then faded. "I'm glad you remember me, but I have to go now. I hope you enjoy your time here with my mother. I'm sure that once you get the hang of this place, she'll let you walk around the village, too." He smiled one last time before leaving.

The woman stood. She was still smiling. "By the way, my name is Mokoto. Come, I will show you to the bathroom."

"You fold them like this," she demonstrated, folding the dough in half again, "and take the knife. Cut it at the ends. And you have noodles! Once they dry. You air-dry them."

I followed her lead, peeking over at hers. Hers were much more neat, more straight, than mine. I frowned at my messily folded dough.

She chuckled. "You'll just get better and better at it from here on out, so don't worry."

"Mom, I'm home!" The door slammed. I turned in time to see Sasuke spring into the kitchen, grinning. "Iruka-Sensei says I'm the best shot in my class!"

"That's great, Sasuke. I'm so proud of you." She walked toward him, carrying a bowl of soup we'd made, setting it on the table. "Here. Eat up. Seishiryu and I made this for the family."

He jumped into the chair, grabbing his chopsticks. "Thank you, both of you!" He grinned at me, then started to eat.

"Why don't you join him? I think you've done enough today. You deserve a break." She smiled at me, returning to her chopping board to finish.

I pulled up a chair, and she set a bowl in front of me. "Thank you, Mokoto-San."

"You're welcome, but you don't have to call me that."

"So what did you two do today?" Itachi spoke, walking into the kitchen. He had a cut under his eye. "Have fun at the academy, nii-chan?"

Sasuke nodded, sucking a noodle into his mouth. "Yup! Sensei says I'm the best shot in class!"

"That's great. What about you two?" He glanced at his mother, but looked at me, smiling softly. "Did you have fun?"

"She taught me how to make noodles, and lots of other things today. And showed me the herb garden."

"She's a master chef in the making." Mokoto set a bowl on the table, sliding it to Itachi. "Here. Eat. Courtesy of both of us."

Itachi sat, taking a bite with his chopsticks. "It's very good. I can see what you mean, mother."

"Thank you!" I said brightly, smiling.

"Sasuke, I was thinking. Why don't you take Seishiryu out to explore the village?"

He nodded. "'Kay! I'll show her the Academy! When is she joining us there?"

"The Hokage said she can join on Monday."

"Three days? Is he sure she's ready for that?"

"He stopped by with some medics today. She has made a complete recovery already. Not a scratch on her."

He stared at me. "Really. Well, that's amazingly lucky. Just yesterday we were told to change your bandages daily."

"Well, it's really thanks to Sasuke. He helped me."

He shot me a grin. "You're welcome."

Itachi reached over, ruffling his brother's hair. "I'm glad he managed to help you. I'm also glad you'll be joining the Academy. You'll make lots of new friends there, I'm sure."

I looked down at my soup, taking a silent bite. "What if people don't like me?"

"Nonsense!" Sasuke said brightly. "I like you. Why wouldn't anyone else?"

"Because I'm weird-looking."

Silence.

"Seishiryu," Itachi said softly, "not everyone looks the same as everyone else. It would be a very dull world if everyone looked the same, don't you think so?"

I shrugged.

"I think you're pretty," his little brother said. "I don't know why you don't think so."

"Katsu says-"

"Katsu tried to kill you," Itachi said softly, "so I wouldn't put any stock into what she had to say to you. You may stand out a bit, but you weren't meant to blend in. Sometimes it's best to stand out a bit. Set yourself apart from others. Embrace your unique skills, instead of running from them or trying to change them. You are you, and that should never change."

"Yea. Besides, I like you. I like how you stand out, because you're not like anyone else. And I like that. You're pretty, and I don't care what anyone says."

I stared at my soup for a minute, then nodded. "Okay. I can go explore. Might as well, right?" I forced a small, half smile. "I'm gonna be here for awhile, anyway."

"Great!" Sasuke picked his bowl up, drank the last bit of broth. "Whenever you're ready."

I glanced up at him, with a slight nod. "Okay. I'm ready. I've already eaten a lot today. I'm not very hungry."

"She's right. She and I indulged in some sweets earlier." Mokoto smiled. "We'll have some of those sweets when you get back, okay?"

Sasuke nodded, sprinting over to me, grabbing my hand. "All right, mom. We'll be back. I promise." He pulled me toward the door. "We will take the forest path to the village, so I can show you my favorite places. 'Kay?"

I nodded. "Yea. Sure."

A couple hours later, we were walking through the village, and he was pointing out places. "That's Ichiraiku ramen stand. Right there you can get really good sweet dumplings." He stopped, turning to face me, smiling. "You now know the village! Except the Academy. I'll take you there, and we'll head back home. It's getting late. 'Kay?"

I nodded. "Okay."

We ended up in front of a large, fenced in building. There were kids standing around, training, fighting. "Who are these people?"

"Some of them are my classmates–our classmates. Some of them are older, and some are younger."

"Sasuke!" a voice called from beside us. Looking over, I saw a man with brown hair, a headband, and a scar over his nose. He waved. "Is this the new student?" He walked over.

Sasuke nodded. "Yup. This is Seishiryu Hoshikuzu."

"Well, hello, there. I'm Iruka-Sensei. I see you're wearing the Uchiha symbol. A relative of yours, Sasuke?"

He shook his head. "Nope! She's my betrothed. That's what it's called. It's like fiancé, but not quite."

"Oh. I see." He studied me. "Well, Seishiryu, I'm honored you will be joining our Academy."

"She's really good, too. Her aim is almost as good as mine."

I gave him a look. "'Almost'?"

He smiled. "Yea."

He apparently didn't catch my meaning, and I turned away, not feeling like I really wanted to push the issue. A girl caught my attention, anyway.

She was training by herself in the corner, but her stance was really bad. She kept overreaching or tripping over her pant legs.

"Excuse me," I said softly, walking over to the black-haired girl. "You're overreaching.” 

She jumped, whirling, eyes wide.

I knelt so I could roll her pant legs up a bit. "And you keep tripping over your pants." I rolled both pant legs up just enough to not be in the way, and stood, smiling. "I can help you train, if you want."

Her eyes were still wide. "R-really?"

I nodded, smiling. “I can help you get your balance. Your stance is decent, but you keep spreading your legs a bit too far out, and you're reaching too far over.”

"O-overreaching?"

I nodded again, demonstrating. "Look, my legs aren't more than shoulder-width apart. Your feet should be no more than shoulder width apart. If they are further apart than that, you will be knocked off balance."

She copied me slowly, eyes still a bit wide. "L-like th-this?"

Nod. "Yup! You got it now!"

A shy, small smile appeared. "Th-thank yo-you."

"You're welcome." I straightened, still smiling. "If you ever want to train with me, let me know. I'll help you get your stances better than anyone else in this school!"

"I-I don't thi-think I cou-could be bet-better."

"Oh, no. You've got promise, really!"

She smiled shyly. "Y-you're ver-very nice."

"Any time you want to train, just let me know."

With a glance around the classroom, I spotted Hinata, and sprinted toward her so I could sit beside her. "Hi!"

She smiled. "H-hi! H-how did y-you sle-sleep?"

I shrugged. "About as well as usual. You?"

"G-great. I-I rea-really lik-liked ha-hanging ou-out."

"Me too. I'm glad you came to the woods with me. I would've gotten lost on my own."

She smiled shyly. "N-no, y-you woul-would've been ok-okay."

"Nah. I'd have gotten so lost. Nobody would've ever found me." I grinned. "But I'm glad you came. It was fun."

"I h-had fun, t-too."

Someone sat on the other side of me. Glancing up, I saw a brown-haired boy with a dirt smudge on his face. It looked like a paw print. "You have something right there."

He looked at me. "Huh? Which side?"

"The left side."

He reached up, rubbing at his cheek. "Is it gone?"

I nodded. "Yup. Looked like a paw print."

He grinned at me. "Hey. So, you're the new girl, right?"

"Yup. I'm Seishiryu."

"Kiba." He reached his hand out to take mine before I offered it. "Nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you, too."

"So! How long you been training to be a Ninja?"

"Since I was real little."

"Where are you from?"

My heart stopped, thinking of my village. "Hoshigakure," I said softly.

"You have the Uchiha symbol on your back. How come?"

"I'm living with them." I didn't want to say anything about the contract. "I guess that's all the clothing they had, the ones with the symbols on them." I shrugged. "Oh well."

Sasuke glanced back at me, perhaps hearing his Clan's name. I wasn't sure. He was close to the front of the room, having been told the night before I wanted to start fresh, and wanted to sit by Hinata.

I avoided his glance. "What about you? I'm guessing you're from here?"

He nodded. "Inuzuka Clan! We raise dogs." He grinned, and I caught glimpse of sharp canines.

"Hey, you have fangs."

His grin widened, and he nodded. "Yup! It's 'cause we're more canine-like."

"I have them, too. See?"

He nodded. "I saw! Do you get them from your Clan?"

I shook my head. "Nope. Only I got them." I leant back, gesturing to the silent Hinata. "This is Hinata. She's my new friend."

She smiled. "W-we know ea-each other."

"Hey, Hinata! You were so quiet, I didn't even know you were there! What's up?"

"No-nothing."

The man from before stepped into the room. "Settle down, kids. We've got a lot to do today. As some of you have figured out, we have a new student. Due to this, we're going to just do review on everything we've learnt since we've begun learning here."

Kiba sighed, leaning back in his chair. "Today's gonna be an easy day! If it's just review."

"S-sometimes re-reviewing something y-you think you kn-know, you c-can learn m-more."

"That's very true! My dad says that if you don't go back to where you started, you'll never get past where you are." The words fell from me before I realized it, but once I said it, my heart hurt once I realized what I'd said.

A hand touched my shoulder. "Hey, you okay?"

I glanced up at him, giving a small, half smile. "Yea. Why?"

"Well, I'm pretty good at sensing other people's feelings." He patted my shoulder. "And I thought that you felt sad."

I shrugged. "I'm okay. Really."

"Up, boys and girls. Up. We're going outside. We are going to test ourselves and see where we all are in our training. So, follow me!"

The students stood, and I stood with them, following everyone outside, to the fenced in area.

The man stood near the door. "We are going to have a sparring session."

"S-sparring?" Hinata stammered.

"Who's gonna be paired against who?"

"Girls vs. girls, and boys vs. boys. That's how we're going to do it this time. Boys, line up against that wall. Girls, line up behind me."

I followed Hinata, standing behind her in the line.

"Let's do . . . Sasuke against Naruto."

I tensed, looking toward the excited black-haired boy. A blond stepped forward with him, bouncing subtly. "You're going down, Sasuke!"

He laughed. "I guess we'll see about that, won't we?"

"Wait a minute, you two. First of all, let's go over the rules. No weapons at all. The first one to hit the ground is the loser. You must remain on your feet or hands at all times. Once you have fallen, the fight is over. No jutsu."

"Aw," Sasuke said softly, scuffing his foot on the ground. "Okay, fine." He crouched in a fighting stance. "Ready."

The blond bounced up and down, obviously excited, and finally assumed a fighting stance. His stance wasn't very good at all. "I'm ready!"

"One," the Sensei started, "two," a pause, "Three!"

Sasuke didn't move, only subtly bouncing on the balls of his feet. The blond–Naruto–lunged forward, pulling his arm back. Sasuke sidestepped, grabbed the back of his shirt and tossed him away.

Naruto hit the ground, face first. He grunted. "Ouch!"

"Naruto's out."

"What? We just got started!"

"I said the first to hit the ground was out."

"Aw, come on!"

"Those were the rules, Naruto. You should've broken your fall rather than let yourself take it."

Naruto pushed himself up, frowning at the ground. "One day, I'm gonna win. I'm gonna be the best."

"Yea, sure." Sasuke moved to the back of the line, sitting down.

"Girls next. We're gonna go with . . . Ino and Hinata."

Hinata's eyes were wide when I turned to look at her. "I-I c-can-"

"Right! You can." I smiled. "And if you lose, who cares? Just give it your best! You're better than she is, anyway."

She smiled shyly. "Y-you think?"

I nodded. "Of course. You're really good, better than you think you are. Just have a bit more confidence and pretend you are sparring with me!"

A small nod. "Th-thank you." She walked toward the Sensei, meeting the girl with the short blond hair. She slowly got into a fighting crouch, and I could see her hands shaking.

"Whoo! You got this!" I yelled, waving. "Go, Hinata!"

She glanced at me, smiling slightly, and I watched the Sensei call the start of the spar. The blond girl rushed toward her, foot-sweeping her, but Hinata jumped over her leg at the last second, jumping away from her twice, then turned to reach for the blond.

The blond dodged the grab, grabbing Hinata's hand in retaliation.

Hinata's eyes widened. In a quick maneuver, she twisted her wrist out of Ino's hand, and kicked her legs out from under her.

Ino ended up on the ground, eyes wide. "Y-you beat me."

Hinata stared at her with wide eyes. "I-I did it?"

"Good job, Hinata! Go on, to the back of the line, both of you."

Hinata smiled, turned to stare at me. She waved, taking a deep breath, jogged toward me.

I grabbed her in a hug. "I told you, you could do it!"

"Th-thank you!"

"For what?"

"B-believing in m-me."

I smiled. "Aw, you don't need me to believe in you. You need you to believe in you!"

"Good job, Hinata!" Kiba called from the other line, waving. "You did great!"

She blushed, giggling a bit, then walked to the back of the line.

The Sensei called out another battle, then another, and another, and then called, "Sakura against Seishiryu!"

I shot a grin back at Hinata, and jogged toward the Sensei, ready to face my opponent. A girl with short pink hair and green eyes came froward. And for a moment, I was reminded of my twins. Seuiave, with her pale blond hair and light blue eyes, and Shikotai with her pink hair and pink eyes. I didn't let that thought stay with me long.

"You got this, Se!" Sasuke called. "Take her down!"

The pink-haired girl's face fell slightly. She pointed at me. "I'm taking you down!"

I crouched, the way Papa had taught me. "I'm ready."

"Ready, Iruka-SenShi."

"One, two, and three."

She darted at me.

Taking a risk, I stood my ground, waiting for her to reach me. Once she was in front of me, I grabbed the collar of her shirt, placed my foot in her abdomen, and flipped backward, landing atop her with my hands on her collar, and my foot still in her stomach. I held her there, looking up. "Do I win?"

"You win, Seishiryu."

Green eyes glared at me. "Not fair! She pinned me!"

"I never said you couldn't pin."

"But I can break free!" She reached up, breaking my hold on her collar, and I grabbed her wrists and slammed them down, moving so my knee was in her stomach rather than my foot. She glared at me. "Not fair!"

Knowing I'd beaten her, I stood, then offered my hand down to her. "Sorry, but we were told to test our skills."

She smacked my hand away. "I don't need your help!" She stood, brushed herself off, cast me another glare, and walked to the back of the line.

With a shrug, I joined Hinata. 

On the way back to the compound, I hummed inside my head, thinking about all the things I'd learnt so far. I'd made two friends already, and I was happy with that. I’d sent Sasuke home while I’d stayed behind to train and talk with Kiba and Hinata. And, honestly? It was a nice break from my reality, though I hadn’t told them how I’d gotten to be here.

"Seishiryu, hey, what are you doing, walking home alone?"

Looking up, I caught a glimpse of black eyes before Itachi caught up to me. "I stayed behind to train with my friends."

"I see. Well, it's a good thing I came to check on you. Okaa-San and Otou-San aren't home, so you guys are stuck with me." He smiled softly. "I made some pumpkin pie. It’s waiting back home. How's that sound?"

I smiled. "That sounds awesome."

He smiled, reaching down for my hand. "C'mon, then. Let's go get some food together."

I took his hand, and felt oddly at home. Walking back to the compound, I started to tell him about my day, about how everything went, and he listened. He made comments every now and then, asking me how I felt about Hinata, Kiba, Iruka, and the other students, and asked me a couple times if I felt comfortable at the Academy. It felt good to talk to him about it. When we'd reached the compound, I followed him inside, and he started to busy himself around the kitchen.

Sasuke sat at the kitchen table, bent over some sort of book. He glanced up when I entered, a huge smile crossing his face. "Hey! Seishiryu, Nii-San! I was wondering where you were. Did you have fun sparring with Hinata?"

I nodded, going over to join him at the table. "Yup. It was really fun. Kiba joined in, and we really had a lot of fun."

Itachi was moving quickly, and he almost immediately had a piece of pumpkin pie on each of our plates. He smiled at me. "I already had it ready. We were just waiting on you, so I ran out to get you."

"Oh. I-I'm sorry! I hope it's not cold. I didn't mean to have anyone waiting for me."

He smiled softly. "Don't worry, Seishiryu. It's okay. You got carried away, it happens." He pushed a plate toward me. "Unfortunately, I'm not much of a cook, but one thing I know how to do, is pumpkin pie. So that'll have to do for dessert for tonight. We’ll have some leftovers for dinner"

I smiled. "It's okay. I've never had pumpkin pie, anyway, so it's a good experience."

"Well, I hope you like it." He stood quickly. "I forgot the teas. Sasuke, you want tea, right?"

He nodded. "Yup. Se prefers milk, though."

"I'll get her milk, then."

I stared at Sasuke. "H-how did you know I prefer milk?"

"Whenever you're offered tea, you turn it down, but when you're offered milk, you accept," he said quickly. "So I figure you must like milk a lot better than tea."

I nodded. "I-I do, but I didn't think it was noticeable."

"It is."

A glass of milk was set in front of me, and a cup of tea in front of Sasuke. Itachi sat back down. "I should know that, but I'm really not home a lot lately. I apologize for that."

"It's okay," I said softly. "No worries."

"Great. Well, I'll be home tonight, so we'll have dinner, watch a couple movies, and then you two will go to bed promptly at nine. Understood?"

Despite his warnings of going to bed promptly at nine, we stayed up until eleven, watching movies until nine, when he offered to take us outside to help us practice throwing, which we took him up on. After that, he helped Sasuke better his Jutsu, and I sat aside and watched.

Finally, when we were both tired, we ended up going to bed, and after much pleading, Sasuke and I shared his room, while Itachi read a story to us.

It was all so homey. It made me miss my brother. Laying in bed after everyone had fallen asleep, I curled on my side, ignoring the boy behind me, and started to cry.

He turned over, and, still deep in sleep, threw his arm around me and mumbled, "'S'okay to cry."

And I fell asleep like that, feeling almost as at home with this family as I had with my own family.

When I awakened, he still had his arm around me, and he was curled around my back. It was Itachi's voice calling up to wake us, and I found myself wondering what happened to his mom waking us up. I found myself slightly missing her wakeup calls.

He groaned. "Five more minutes," he grumbled, arm around my waist tightening. "Ugh. Too early."

"And this, Nii-Chan, is why we go to bed at nine, instead of eleven or later." The voice was right in the room.

He groaned again. "Nii-San, we don't have classes today! Why are you waking me up?"

"Because I figured you'd enjoy going on a little mission of our own."

At that, he rolled away instantly and jumped up. "With you?"

He nodded. "Yup. Seishiryu's going to have to come, too, of course."

At those words, I was suddenly being shaken. "C'mon, c'mon! We're going on a mission! Get up!"

This time, it was me groaning. "What mission?"

"We're going to go camping."

That made my eyes open wide. I sat up. "C-camping? Like, for real?"

A nod. "There's a catch, though. We need to gather herbs. This is a learning camping trip, to learn what herbal remedies are used for what, what the names of certain herbs are, and what their uses are."

Actually sounded like a lot of fun. "So, what kind of herbs are we gonna be learning about?"

"Stuff like nightshade, I hope."

He laughed. "Well, you'll just have to get up and find out. Be ready in ten minutes."

Fifteen minutes later, we were hiking through the forest. Every few seconds, we would stop, and Itachi would point out a plant and tell us about it. After about an hour of that, he started pointing out plants and asking us what they were.

It went on for a bit. We stopped for lunch, and to rest a few times, talking more about herbs and herbal remedies, until it started to grow a little dark, then we set up camp. Once everything was set up, we sat under the stars, staring up at them while Itachi pointed out constellations.

Until I shivered.

Sasuke looked over at me. "Are you cold, Seishiryu?"

I shrugged, wrapping my arms around my torso. "I'm fine." I hadn't really thought he'd notice.

He stripped his long sleeved shirt off, tossing it at me. "Here. Put this on. Nii-San and I will make a fire. Right?" He smiled at his brother.

Itachi nodded, standing up. "Right, Nii-Chan. I apologize, Seishiryu. I didn't realize it was growing cold. I'll gather some firewood. Sasuke, make a little pit."

He nodded, moving forward to start digging with his hands until he created a small, patted down pit. By the time he'd finished, Itachi had returned with an armful of sticks, and a couple logs. "All right, good job, Nii-Chan. Would you do the honors of lighting it?"

He nodded, eyes lighting up. "Yup!" He took a step back, eyes locked on the campfire, and after a couple, quick handsigns, he lit the fire. His eyes lit up more. "Hey, I did it on my first try!"

"Good job, Nii-Chan! I'm proud of you." He walked over to him, mussing his hair. "Good job."

He smiled up at his brother, then over at me, walking over quickly. He held his hand out. "C'mon, you're gonna have to get closer than that to get warm."

I took his hand, let him pull me to my feet, and lead me to the fire. Pulling my hand free, I sat down, curling my knees against my chest. "So, did we get lots of good herbs today?" I looked up at Itachi.

He nodded. "We did well today. I'm proud of you both for finding the ginger root, too." He smiled at me. "And great job locating the mint, Seishiryu."

I smiled. "I could smell it."

"Right." He tossed something at me.

I caught it, looking down. The ginger root. "What's this for?"

"Smell it."

I smelled. It had an interesting smell. I liked it. "What for?"

"Now you can identify it by smell.” He caught it when I tossed it back, then tossed it at Sasuke. "Smell it, memorize the scent."

He smelled, holding it between his hands for a few minutes, staring at it, then tossed it back. "Got it!"

"Good." He put it back into the bag he'd brought with him for the herbs. It had many individual pockets inside it. "Now, let's get some dinner and tea on to boil, and then get some sleep."

"What are we going to eat?"

"I'm going to teach you to hunt, skin, and prepare food. Let's start with rabbits." He'd pulled something from his other bag. A still, fluffy rabbit. "Ready?"

I touched the soft, full fur that had been set aside to dry, finishing off the last of my meat. "What are we going to do with the fur?"

"Well, I was thinking we could make it into a pillow," Sasuke replied. "I mean, it's fluffy and soft, and it would make a cool pillow, wouldn't it, Nii-San?"

"We could do that, but we'll have to catch another rabbit tomorrow. Who wants the honors of catching tomorrow's rabbit?"

"Ooh, me, me!"

Me? I wasn't so sure I wanted to kill a rabbit, then skin it, and cook it again. "Why are we doing it that way? Killing the rabbit?"

"Because I want to teach you two to live off the land, rather than having everything served to you hand and foot. It's time for a bit of survival training." He smiled. "Don't worry. Just remember to thank the rabbit for its sacrifices. It sacrifices its life, so you can live on. Always remember to thank him for that."

I nodded. "Okay. I guess I . . . I can do that."

"It's the way the natural world goes, Seishiryu," he said softly, probably sensing my indecision. "In order to survive, you must be willing to make sacrifices. Must be willing to fight for the right to continue to survive. It's how things are."

I nodded again. "Okay. I understand." I placed what food I had left over on the plate, yawning. "I'm getting sleepy, so I guess I'm going to turn in."

A look crossed his face. "I would wait. Just a few more minutes." He smiled. "It'll be worth it, I promise." He turned toward his little brother. "You finished?"

He nodded, setting his plate down. "Yea, what's up?"

He smiled wider. "Just follow me. It'll be worth it." His eyes twinkled. "But you'll have to hurry." He stood, and waited for us to stand before he started to walk toward the hill. We followed in silence, scurrying behind him, a couple of yawns being the only noise that broke the silence. Once we were settled atop the hill, he stopped, sat down, and looked up, pointing. "Watch."

I sat next to him, watching his little brother sit on the other side of him, and we looked upward. The stars were bright that night, very beautiful. It brought a smile to my face.

Until one shot across the sky. I gasped, and several others followed. "M-meteors!"

"Right! This shower only happens every hundred years or so. I found out it was due to happen tonight, and I thought you two would enjoy it." He glanced at me, bumping my shoulder. "Especially since you were named after the stars."

I smiled wider. "I wasn't just named after them, watch this!" I reached up, focusing on my power, felt it rise, and–much to my own surprise–a large, sparkling star dropped from the sky, fast as lightning, toward us. It fell, faster and faster, and I focused my power on it, pulling it toward us, and stood, raising both arms above my head.

"I-the sta-it's falling!"

"We better move," warned the calm, slightly rushed voice.

I didn't move. "Just stay, you'll be okay!"

In a flash, it stopped a few dozen feet above us. It came closer, hovering a few feet now above my hands, and I directed it slowly to a spot next to us, a couple feet away from me, letting it drop.

My energy dropped sharply the instant the star was set on the hill. I swayed, started to fall, and an arm wrapped around my shoulders, keeping me upright. Glancing up, I met black, wide, shining eyes. I smiled. "'S'okay," I muttered. "Just don't touch it."

His older brother was standing now, too, staring at the glowing, fiery ball. "Did you do that, Seishiryu?" His voice shook just a bit.

I nodded. "I think so. I didn't mean to, but it's what happened." I'd been about to simply make a small star, like I had for my other friend, but my power had taken a different turn. "I didn't know I could do that."

"I-is that a real star?"

I nodded again, pushing away from him to walk up to it. "You can't touch it, it'll burn you, but I can." I touched it lightly, and it crumbled under my hand. Slowly, at first, but then faster, it turned to dust. "I-I didn't mean to break it." I hadn't, yet I could still feel it connected to me, still feel it deep inside me. I pulled on that link, and watched the dust rise. "I-I can–I can control the dust!" It was draining, and hard to do, but it rose when I pulled at it.

Movement beside me, a ripping sound, and Itachi knelt beside me, holding a small, ragged black square of cloth. "Put some of the dust in here, and you can use it as a bag."

He'd ripped part of his shirt to make that ragged piece of cloth. It wasn't too small, or too large. I held my hands out and pulled the dust toward me, piling it into my hands, and turned, placing it on the cloth.

"It'll be able to hold a lot more than that. Keep going until I tell you to stop."

I nodded, and obeyed. Every time I filled my hands with the dust, I felt a portion of my energy drain away. So hard, but I knew with the right amount of training, I could get better at it. I filled it until he said to stop, then he gathered all four corners together.

"Here, Nii-San," I heard ripping cloth, looked over to see Sasuke had torn a thin strip from his own shirt. "Use this to tie it shut."

"Good idea, Nii-Chan," his brother replied, taking the strip of cloth. He tied it shut. "When we get home, I'll make a better bag for it."

I nodded, taking the bag from him. "Use these cloth pieces for it. I want to remember where the bag came from forever." I smiled up at him.

He ruffled my hair. "All right, Onee-chan. I'll do that for you." He stood, brushed himself off. "Let's get some rest, all right?"

I stared up at him, mind numb from him calling me sister. After a moment, I smiled, and said, "Okay, big brother, let's go sleep!"

He reached down for my hand, took his little brother's hand, and we started off.

I was still going over him calling me little sister once Sasuke and I were settled in the tent. He hadn't joined yet, said he had some more things to do, but I felt . . . oddly happy about being able to call him my brother now.

"You know, you really are a part of this family," the boy beside me said softly, in a thoughtful voice. "I mean, with the contract, you're like, I don't know, an honorary Uchiha. That doesn't bother you, does it?"

I looked over at him. "No, why?"

"I just thought. . . . When he called you that, you looked stunned, and a little sad, and I was just making sure you weren't upset about being part of my family."

I shook my head. "No, no. I just . . . miss my own brother, I guess."

"Well, now, you got another brother." He smiled at me. "And a new family. Even my dad calls you his daughter. I've heard him. Even he thinks of you as family."

"He-he does?"

A nod. "I've heard him, when he talks to my mom, or my brother." I looked over to see him smiling, eyes closed. "I hope you're comfortable, and happy, here. We like having you here."

It made me smile a bit, despite tearing up. "I-I . . . I like being here, too." And it was true. Despite the circumstances, despite everything that had happened, the past couple months of being here, of being part of this family. . . .

I really did like it.

"I hope you think of this as your home."

And I was starting to think of this as my home.

What bothered me about that was, I was afraid I was going to forget where I came from.

Even now, closing my eyes, I could barely remember my mom's face, or my dad's face, or my brother's face, or my sisters' faces. I remembered their voices, though, at night. At night, I often would hear my dad tucking me in, wishing me a good night. I would hear my sisters barging into my room minutes later so we could sneak out. I would hear my mother catching us in the middle of that, and sending us to our respective rooms.

And I would hear my sister's chilling, hateful voice, telling me she hated me.

And that, that was when I often started to cry.

Not tonight. Tonight? All I could hear was "little sister." I smiled, rolling onto my side, and closed my eyes. "This is my home," I said softly.

"And this is your family now," came the soft, sleepy reply. "And that'll never change."


	5. Starfall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When he sat up, she was sitting with her knees curled to her chest, arms clasped around them, and head on her knees. Curled into an almost perfect ball. That wasn’t the thing that stood out. What stood out was the glow that quickly spread through her body. Thousands of thin, tiny lights burst out from her, and he hid his eyes behind his forearm. “Se!”   
>  Something hit the ground just a few dozen feet away. Hard. He could smell something burning, and when he looked, there was smoke rising up from about fifty feet away. Again, something hit the ground, to his other side. This time, he felt the dirt that kicked up hit him. He didn’t even bother to turn to look at the third, or the fourth. He jerked to his feet, looking up. The sky was filled with streaking lights. “Shooting stars . . . ? Stars!” The ground shook at the next impact, and he fixed his eyes on the glowing girl at the center of it all. “Se! Se!” He lunged forward, trying to reach her. “Se! Stop!”

_It was growing dark. Seishiryu hadn’t yet returned home, and he’d checked with her friends, but she wasn’t with them. Which was odd, because if he remembered correctly, she’d told him the reason she would be late today was she was going to see her friends. When he found Kiba and Hinata, they’d told him that she hadn’t been with them today at all._  
 _So where else could she be?_  
 _He had been looking in the forest for hours, trying to find her, and he was starting to lose hope. But then, he remembered that her family had built a compound on the east edge of the village, in the forest, and he went there. He searched the half-finished compound, but she wasn’t there. The horses, his and hers, were in the pasture there, but Se wasn’t. He went into the forest, searching, silent, feeling strangely desperate to find her._  
 _And came upon a small pond, with a large rock at the shore, and a tree just feet from the rock. And Se, she was sitting at the roots of the tree. At first, he didn’t see her, but he thought she might’ve been hiding behind the rock or sitting on it, and he went closer, and when he turned around to leave, he saw her sitting on the roots of the tree he’d passed._  
 _Her eyes were closed. He thought she was sleeping, until he noticed her right wrist. There was a deep gasp across her wrist, and he froze. His breath caught, and all he could hear for several seconds was the sound of his blood rushing through his veins. He lunged toward her, dropping to his knees to grab her bleeding wrist in his. “Why?” he breathed. His voice was soft, barely audible. “Why, Se?” He wrapped her wrist in the bottom part of his shirt, holding it tight in one hand, and using his free hand to check her pulse at the side of her neck. It was strong, he thought, but he wasn’t entirely sure. It felt strong. It was steady. A little slow, maybe?_  
 _“Se?” He grasped one of her shoulders, and shook her lightly. “Se!” Her clothes, wrist, and forearm were soaked in blood, and the cut looked deep. Real deep. She wasn’t responding to his shaking. Her skin was lukewarm to the touch, a little cold. But she was alive. “What do I do?” He stared at her wrist, then her face. “What do I do?” He tightened his hand around her wrist. He shook her again, but she still remained unresponsive._  
 _She needed a medic. She needed–!_  
 _She needs healed._  
 _It was like a lightbulb went off in his brain. She needed to be healed. He let her wrist go only so he could move her so she had her head on his lap, propped up just enough, wrapped her wrist again, and searched quickly for whatever she’d used to cut her wrist. A kunai, with dried blood on the hilt, and her blood still wet on the blade. Using the kunai, he cut a thin, quick cut across his wrist, opened her mouth, and placed his wrist against her mouth, hoping for the best. Nothing, for several seconds, so he lifted his wrist, brows furrowing together, and realized the blood wasn’t flowing fast enough. He cut a bit deeper, until the blood flowed easily, freely, but still not too deep, and placed his wrist against her mouth again._  
 _He used his other hand to rub her throat, a technique he’d always heard helped unconscious people swallow._  
 _She did swallow, once, then one more time, but nothing after that._  
 _He pulled his wrist back, and quickly unwrapped her wrist. After wiping the blood away, he could see her clean, untouched wrist. A harsh, quick breath escaped him, and he gave a half-laugh, half-cry of relief. He pulled her up, clasped her against his chest, hugging tight. She smelled of blood, of white magnolias. When he pulled back, he shook her again, calling her name, but still, she remained unresponsive._  
 _Her pulse, when he checked, was stronger than before. Faster. Her breathing seemed better. But still, she wasn’t responding. “We’re not too far from home,” he said aloud, looking around. “Maybe I can carry you?”_  


I was being moved. Slowly. It was the first thing I noticed. The second was the smell of something warm, borderline hot, spicy, with a heavy, almost-leather scent. My head was against something hard, warm. I tensed, we stopped moving, and I yanked away from whoever was carrying me. I landed roughly on my hands and knees, then jolted to my feet, ready to run.   
Only to be grabbed from behind and tackled down to the ground. “Don’t you run away!” I knew that voice. Sasuke tackled us to the ground, rolling in mid-air so he could break the fall with his shoulder. My shoulder barely touched the ground. Before I could react, he’d wrestled me to the ground, pinned my left hand and held my right wrist tightly, inches from my face. When I looked up into his face, his eyes were burning. “Why?!” he demanded, turning the inside of my wrist toward my face. “Why did you do it?! Why!”  
My eyes flashed from his face to my wrist and back. “I. . . .” Right. I tried to die today. So why am I still alive? I shook my head, tearing my eyes from his and focusing on a point over his shoulder. “You wouldn’t understand,” I said softly.   
“Then make me understand it!”  
I shoved him off me, jerking to my feet. “You wouldn’t understand. You don’t know what it’s like!”  
He grabbed my wrist, holding it up where I could see. There was dried blood clinging to my arm, but no wound, nothing. No mark of any kind. “I don’t understand why you would do this, you’re right! And maybe I don’t understand what you’re going through. But that doesn’t mean I can’t listen! That doesn’t mean I can’t help you. Talk to me! Don’t do,” he shook my wrist slightly, “this , ever!”   
I tried to yank my arm away, but he tightened his grip. “Let go, Sasuke! It’s none of your business! So back off!”  
“None of my business?! You–ugh! You are my business! I’ve spent every night sitting beside your bed, sleeping next to you so you don’t run off through the window. I’ve sat next to you when I knew you couldn’t handle being alone, but didn’t want to ask for company. I’ve dried your tears when you couldn’t. I’ve held you when you cried. I think at this point, you can’t tell me this isn’t my business!”  
My stomach did backflips when I met his eyes. Angry, black, burning. There was a muscle in his jaw that twitched, and his nostrils were flared. “Why do you care anyway? It’s not like I’m related to you or something.”  
He stepped closer to me. “You are family to me. Contract or not, after everything that’s happened, you’re family. And I don’t care what you have to say to me about it!”  
That word, “family.” It broke something inside me. My chest tightened, heart skipped a beat. My stomach felt like it would drop through to my feet. The rest of me followed, and my knees hit the ground. He still had my right wrist, but I used my other hand to cover my face.   
There was a thump, and he tugged my hand away, then pulled me into him, arms tight around me. He rubbed my back, from upper shoulders, to middle, up, down, up, down.   
I buried my face against his shoulder, grabbing his shirtfront, hard enough, my nails bit into my hands through the shirt. He’s warm, I realized, as a shiver ran down my spin. Up until that moment, I hadn’t realized how cold I’d been. Not just tonight, but since I’d been here. I leant into the warmth, took a deep, shaking breath, sniffling as I did. “Are-are you always this warm?”  
“Huh? Oh. Uh, I guess.” He pulled away slightly, looking down at me. “Are you cold?”  
“A little.”  
He closed the distance again, this time running his hands up and down my arms. “It’s okay, I’ll help you get warm.”  
I sat there, silent, for I’m not even sure how long. Just listened to his heartbeat, and focused on his warmth. It was strange to me, now that I’d noticed, how cold I really was. I felt warmer, with his arms around me, with his hands rubbing my arms. I could feel his warmth wrapping around me, but yet, I could still feel that coldness, and I realized, the cold was inside me. The warmth that radiated from him in waves was just barely touching the coldness I had inside me.   
“Se?” His voice was soft, a little breathy.   
“Hm?”  
He swallowed, hard. “Don’t you like being with my family? Being part of my family?”  
I thought about it. “Yea,” I said slowly. “But it’s not the same.” I paused, trying to think of how to say what I was thinking. “I like it here. It feels almost like home to me. But . . . it’s not the same. Papa, Mama. . . . My brother, my sisters. They’re gone. My home is gone. There’s a part of me . . . that died with them. A part, no matter how much I like it here, or how much I might start loving it, that will never come back. It’s gone, and there’s no getting it back.”   
“What happened?” His voice was so soft, I barely heard him. “That night, I mean.”  
I tightened my grip on his shirt. My throat was suddenly dry, and I felt like I might vomit. Just thinking about that night made my muscles clench so hard, so fast, it was actually almost painful. I clenched my eyes shut to try to stop the tears. That coldness was back with a vengeance, and I was suddenly shivering violently.   
“Se?”  
If I could make myself any smaller, I probably would’ve right then. “I watched Mama die,” came out in a broken, small voice. “I . . . fell on Papa’s body, slipped in his blood.” My head was starting to hurt. “I saw my brother die.” I shook my head. There was a painful feeling in my core. It grew more painful by the second. It felt like it was curling inside me. Rolling around. And I knew what it felt like. It felt like a ball of needles spinning around in my core. Faster, faster, and faster.  
Mama’s face, Papa’s body, Big Brother’s blood–all of that just kept flashing through my head. And every time it did, that ball of needles spun faster. There was a burning that started to accompany it, and I closed my eyes tightly, clinging to the boy whose warmth touched the coldness inside.   
Papa’s glassy, lifeless eyes flashed through my head, and at that image, something broke. Something inside me shattered. A pulse shot out from me. A heavy, thick pulse that spread through the air in dense ripples. It was suddenly cold again. I could vaguely hear a thump. I brought my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around them and burying my face against my knees.   
_Papa. . . . Papa!_

  
_A strange pulse ran through the air. Sasuke tensed. He started to move, to do something, when another pulse shot out from Seishiryu. It ripped him away from her. A blinding light followed. He landed more than a dozen feet away, hard. It winded him, and he lay there, dazed, for several seconds._   
_When he sat up, she was sitting with her knees curled to her chest, arms clasped around them, and head on her knees. Curled into an almost perfect ball. That wasn’t the thing that stood out. What stood out was the glow that quickly spread through her body. Thousands of thin, tiny lights burst out from her, and he hid his eyes behind his forearm. “Se!”_   
_Something hit the ground just a few dozen feet away. Hard. He could smell something burning, and when he looked, there was smoke rising up from about fifty feet away. Again, something hit the ground, to his other side. This time, he felt the dirt that kicked up hit him. He didn’t even bother to turn to look at the third, or the fourth. He jerked to his feet, looking up. The sky was filled with streaking lights. “Shooting stars . . . ? Stars!” The ground shook at the next impact, and he fixed his eyes on the glowing girl at the center of it all. “Se! Se!” He lunged forward, trying to reach her. “Se! Stop!” He was pushed backward by another pulse, and a shooting star flew just a dozen feet past him, landing close enough that the impact threw him forward, toward the girl whose glow was powerful enough to light up the area._   
_He landed hard, blocking his face with his forearms, then pushed himself up. I have to get to her! He ran toward her, fighting through the angry winds keeping him at bay. “Se! Stop!” Nearly being thrown off his feet more times than he cared to count, he fought through to her. Reaching her, he grasped her shoulders, shook her. No reaction. He dropped to his knees, cupped her face, and forced her to look at him. Her eyes were open, glowing and white, but sightless._   
_The winds knocked him back again, only a foot or two. He landed on his ass, but quickly got back up and grabbed her, pulling her into him. “Se,” he murmured, hugging her tightly to him, “Se, wake up. Se! Wake up, please.” He tensed, looked up at the sky. There would likely be panic in the village tonight. He had to stop her. But how?_   
_“Se, it’s okay. It’s okay to be upset. You can’t hold it in. You’ve got to let it out. Cry, scream, shout, but stop holding it in. You’re only going to kill us! Please. If you don’t cry now, by the time you finally break, you’ll never be able to stop!”_   
_The more he talked, the more the wind faded. The more the light faded. The stars slowly stopped falling, and her body slowly went cold. But he kept talking. He kept talking until he felt her wrap her own arms around him._   
_A white, blinding light was approaching, and he looked up. Hurtling straight toward them was a shooting star, a meteor, fast. But he kept talking, telling her to trust him, to stop, to wake up. Trusting her to stop this before it was too late. And then, just feet away, it burst over them, throwing a fine, soft, silky powder all around. It was soft, but it burnt where it touched, and he tried to shield her as best he could._   
_“Sasuke?” Her voice was weak. Her hold on him equally weak. She went limp against him, letting go._   
_He moved away from her just a bit, looking down. Her eyes were closed, face relaxed. “Se?” She looked to be asleep, and the shooting stars had stopped. He heaved a sigh of relief, not really sure when before he’d been so sure he would die._   
_A few minutes more, and both of them could’ve been killed in that meteor shower, and he could lie to himself and deny that, that hadn’t been her thought. He fully believed that there was a part of her ready to die, ready to kill herself, and if he hadn’t stopped her–_   
_That next meteor, that one that turned to dust just feet above them. That would have killed them both._


	6. Lost Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Do you want to let your whole family down?" he asked again. "Isn't there someone else you would give your life for, someone for whom you would do anything to ensure survival?"  
> The words sent chills down my spine, and I knew he was talking about his little brother. I started to move forward, and the hand tightened. It made me wince and cry out in pain.  
> "Think about it, boy. There are plenty of other young men who would love so very much to take this offer, so many people who would love to see this family gone. Don't you want to protect them from those people?" I could feel his nails digging into my shoulder.  
> The entire time he'd been speaking, his eyes had been on me, and he'd flinched with every sentence. I'd never seen him look like that before. It made me want to run out to him, to help him, but I didn't need the hand on my shoulder to stop me. I felt afraid. Like something was wrong. Like something was going to happen.  
> Like I was about to lose everything again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We all know how the Uchiha massacre happened, so I'm not writing that. Instead, later on throughout the story, I'll sprinkle in little details about how Se was involved, what she witnessed.

“Shiryu!” I heard someone calling. Turning, I saw familiar black eyes, black hair pulled into a ponytail, and a familiar smile. “Oh, gotta go, Kiba, Hinata!” I hugged them both, smiling widely. “I gotta go home.”  
“Bye, Seishiryu!” Their voices echoed behind me as I took off.  
“Hi, Itachi!”  
He smiled, placing a warm hand on the top of my head. “Hey, little sister. Ready to go?”  
I nodded. “Yea, I guess. We were just training together again.”  
He held his hand out. “How did your day go? Learn anything new?”  
Another nod. “We were talking about Chakra! Iruka-SenShi said that there were many ways to use it, and he started to explain some things, but said some of the ways to use it were out of our experience range. He said that we could walk on water some day. Can you walk on water?” I looked up at him, eyes wide.  
He smiled. “Yes, I can. Sometime, I'll show you, okay?”  
“Will you teach me to do it?”  
A nod. “Of course.”  
“He also said that we could walk up walls. Can you do that?”  
He nodded. “Yes, of course. I'll teach you that, too.”  
My eyes widened as I tried to picture him walking up walls. “Like a spider, right?”  
He laughed. “Something like that, sure.”  
"Is it hard?"  
"At first, but it gets easier as you get stronger. What else did you learn?"  
"We learned about hand signs, and what origin certain ones are from. We learned a lot! Then he had us go outside and practice some. How many do you know? Do you know them all?"  
"I'm sure there are some I don't know, but I know a lot."  
"He was showing us how to do them, and he got faster and faster. I bet you can do it faster, though!"  
He laughed again. "You'll get fast at it, too, soon enough."  
As we walked, I talked, bouncing up and down as I did. I'd learnt a lot, and wanted to talk about it all, and as I talked, I got more and more excited.  
He led me into the gardens, and I paused my side of the conversation as my eyes caught onto a familiar woman. She had her back to me, but I knew her anyway. Their mom was back! I squealed. "You're back, you're back!"  
Sasuke was already outside, bouncing around her, helping her by handing her this and that, and taking this and that. He stopped when he saw me and waved. "Hey, Seishiryu! How was training?"  
I ran over, and his mom stood, turning to smile down at me. "It was fun! Kiba showed me his compound. They have a lot of dogs!"  
She laughed. "That's what the Inuzuka Clan is known for. Their abilities with canines."  
I stood in front of her, remembering what Sasuke had told me a couple days ago. "S-so how was your trip?"  
She smiled. "It was very fun. Did you like camping with Sasuke and Itachi?"  
I nodded. "Yea! We saw a meteor shower, and I got this." I paused, reaching into the bag Itachi and Sasuke had helped me make out of the fabric. It had been sewn so it wouldn't just fall apart. I pulled out some dust, held it in my hand. It was silvery-white, and glowed dimly, like millions of tiny, little stars.  
"Oh, wow. What is it?"  
"It's Star Powder. I can do this with it!" I stared at it, focusing, and it rose slightly, gave a soft, weak swirl, and fell. "I've been working on it, and I still gotta practice, but I can control it! At least a little."  
"That's awesome." She knelt, studying the powder. "How did you get it?"  
"She brought down a giant star from the sky!" Sasuke said, bouncing up beside her. "It was cool, and scary! I thought we were gonna be crushed, but she controlled it, and made it land, and then it turned to dust and she could control the dust! It was really cool!"  
She smiled again. "I guess you were named after more than just the stars in the sky, huh?"  
I nodded, beaming. "I've always known I could do things like that, but I didn't know I could bring down a giant star like that. It was accidental, but I made sure nobody got hurt!"  
"That's good. Maybe you can show me some time." She reached out to me, smoothing my hair back. "Do you want to help me garden?"  
I nodded again. "Yea, sure!"

  
It was growing dark. I was just staring at the sky when I heard him calling to me. Glancing back, I stood. "Hi, big brother. What's up?"  
He smiled slightly. "It's getting dark. We should get inside."  
"Right. Sorry." I followed him, silently, studying him. He seemed different, concerned. Like something was wrong. We passed a big building, with stairs leading to the front doors, and he stopped when he saw a crowd had gathered around the outside of the building. They were talking quietly amongst themselves, until they saw him standing a few feet away.  
"Seishiryu," he said softly. "Go on home. I'll be there in a minute."  
I nodded, started to move away, until another man came up behind me, grabbing my shoulder. "Don't you think she would be safer here, Itachi?" The voice made my shoulders tense. He sounded like he was enjoying something. "I think she should stay. After all," his voice sounded optimistic, happy, but still so . . . wrong, "she's part of the family now, too, isn't she?"  
He gave me a pained look, glancing back at the man behind me, but as he opened his mouth to answer, another voice rang out. "There he is! Itachi, we need you to give us your answer. One way or another."  
The crowd moved toward us, surrounding us quickly. "We need a leader. Are you going to help us or not?"  
He hesitated. "I'm not the man you want for the job."  
"You're the best person for the position. We need someone like you in this."  
"After all, Itachi," the voice behind me spoke, "if it's not you, then who would it be?"  
"I can't help you."  
"If not you, I'm sure someone who has less . . . morals would love to take the offer." The hand tightened. "After all, I know there are many who would love to take the job, who won't cut corners, the way I know you will."  
The look he gave me made my breath catch. He looked about ready to run, to cry, to fight. He looked like he was in pain, and angry, and afraid, all at the same time. And I had the feeling, he wasn't the one he was really afraid for.  
"Do you want to let your whole family down?" he asked again. "Isn't there someone else you would give your life for, someone for whom you would do anything to ensure survival?"  
The words sent chills down my spine, and I knew he was talking about his little brother. I started to move forward, and the hand tightened. It made me wince and cry out in pain.  
"Think about it, boy. There are plenty of other young men who would love so very much to take this offer, so many people who would love to see this family gone. Don't you want to protect them from those people?" I could feel his nails digging into my shoulder.  
The entire time he'd been speaking, his eyes had been on me, and he'd flinched with every sentence. I'd never seen him look like that before. It made me want to run out to him, to help him, but I didn't need the hand on my shoulder to stop me. I felt afraid. Like something was wrong. Like something was going to happen.  
Like I was about to lose everything again.

Tears still wet and shining on my face, I followed the silver-haired man to the door. "Don't worry, kid," he said softly back at me, "you'll never be homeless in the Leaf. No matter what happens."  
"What about Sasuke?"  
"He's being given an apartment."  
"Why am I being brought here?"  
"Because you have Hyuuga blood, they offered to let you stay here."  
I stared at the ground, watching my feet move. "Is he gonna be okay?"  
"He'll be fine, once he wakes up. He wasn't seriously hurt."  
The look in his eyes. I couldn't shake it. I could've sworn I saw tears in his eyes. "Why'd he do it?" I asked softly.  
"Sometimes, there are no answers for the tough questions."  
He knocked on the door. Seconds passed before a man opened it. When I looked up, my eyes widened. I took a deep breath.  
Papa. H-he looks just like papa! The same eyes stared down at me, but his eyes weren't as lighthearted as Papa's. His were stoic, harsh, almost. But his face, and his hair, though longer than Papa's, it was the right color. As I stared at him, he looked down at me, and I looked away. Those eyes . . . they're not Papa's.  
"That's the girl?"  
"Yup. The Hokage is grateful to you for taking her in."  
"If she's a Hyuuga, we don't have much choice but to take her into our home, do we?"  
Hinata appeared behind him, peering out. She smiled at seeing me, but the smile dulled when she realized why I was there. She backed away as the man moved away from the door, giving us more room to come through.  
I immediately linked hands with her, needing the touch of a familiar, friendly hand.  
She smiled at me, the smile dulling again. "I-I'm sorry."  
"It's okay," I said softly. "I-I'm just glad to be here."  
"We'll take her before the Elders and see what they have to say, as a final check. If you would wait here, Kakashi-San."  
Kakashi nodded. "I'll be around."  
"Seishiryu," the voice drew my attention to the man. He gestured me closer. "Come. We'll take you to the Elders. Hinata, stay with Kakashi."  
Pulling my hand away, I followed the man deeper into the building, past a little boy not much older than myself, training in the yard. We passed him, and he glanced up to see me. We kept going until we were in another, small house. It was a bit darker, and we weren't alone. Several older men and women moved about.  
"This is the girl? She doesn't look much like a Hyuuga."  
"Nonsense. She looks like you. A little."  
"She's got the Hyuuga eyes, but there's no way she's full Hyuuga."  
"We should place the seal on her, if we bring her in."  
"We are forbidden from doing so, as even if she is a Hyuuga, she is not part of our main branch. She is part of another branch of Hyuuga, from another village. She's not our branch."  
"But you're sure she has Hyuuga blood?"  
"We had her tested. Her blood matches Hyuuga blood.”  
“We should still seal her.”  
“We've been ordered not to give her the seal, due to hers being a different branch, and due to the contract between her family and the Uchiha."  
"The Uchiha are as good as extinct. What does that matter?"  
"It matters because the one with whom the contract was signed is still alive. The contract is still binding. As long as that is binding, she is not our branch. She's as good as Uchiha now."  
"Then why is she here?"  
"Because she is still Hyuuga. She needs to learn of her people, and learn of her talent."  
"How do we know she even has the Byakuugan?"  
"She activated it during the massacre. It's why the Hokage brought her to us. We are to teach her what she needs to know."  
"So she's here. At least for now, she's here."  
"I still say she should get the seal. We don't know that she won't betray us."  
"We're not her family to betray. She is not our branch; We have no authority over her."  
"We were also ordered not to give her the seal. You heard the Hokage. That contract binds her to the Uchiha."  
"So the Uchiha can gain our Byakuugan with their breeding! We need to come up with a way to break that contract. The Byakuugan is our Kekkei-Genkai. Giving her to them is as good as giving our power away!"  
"That is not our decision."  
"I suggest you find the contract, and a way to break it."  
"If you find a way," I said softly, at first. Everyone turned to look at me. "I-if you find a way to break it, I will allow you to place the seal on me, without complaint. I do not want to marry him. I want nothing to do with that. I do want to know what my father was, and who he was, and that means getting to know the Clan he was born into. Doesn't it? So if you accept me, and if you find a way to break the contract, I bow to your will to do with me as you please."  
Silence. Murmurs. Moments passed. "Fine. We'll scour for a loophole in the contract. If we find one, you will receive the mark."  
"Give her a room. Let her share one with Neji. That's good enough for the half-breed."  
"We put a mark on her, that's going against the Hokage's will."  
“The Hokage doesn't always know what's best for our Clan. Letting a rampant Hyuuga run around could prove disastrous.”  
"And marking her could cause war."  
"With whom? The nonexistent Uchiha Clan? There's nobody to stop us if we marked her. The Hokage would be upset, but he would understand once he got what we were doing. Protecting our namesake."  
"She's not our namesake to protect."  
"If she is Hyuga, then she is our namesake to protect. Whether she has our last name or not, it makes no difference. None."  
"We're not putting a seal on her. She's here to learn, and she will be safe."  
"Fine. Take her away. Let her stay in Neji's room."  
I was ushered out and I saw the same boy a few feet away. He was staring at me.  
He looked away when he saw me staring back.  
"Neji, take Starlight to your room. She'll be staying with you."  
The boy jogged toward me, nodding. "Hi, I'm Neji." He watched the man walk away, then said, "Don't let them put the seal on you. I heard what was being said. Don't let them do it."  
"B-but why?"  
"It's horrible," he said softly. You don't want that."  
"Hey, so, uh, you're Neji, right?"  
A nod. "Yes. And I assume you're Seishiryu."  
I nodded. "Yes. I'm Seishiryu."  
"Don't let them put the seal on you. It turns you into their slave. Don't do it." He took my arm. "They're never going to accept you, either. They will always view you as the outsider, especially if you let them put the seal on you."  
I followed behind him, wondering how I'd get myself out of this one. I wanted to know more about my father. Obviously they knew who my dad was, so how did I find out more about him? If I could find out the truth about my father, maybe I could find out who killed him.  
In order to find out more about the man who murdered my family, I had to find out more about my father. If that meant being their slave. . . .  
Then so be it.


	7. Hammer Time!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kita tossed a third blindfold to Hasano. “Don’t put them on yet. I need to give you one more thing.” She disappeared into the trees for a good five minutes, came bakc, and tossed something else at our feet–something that hit the ground hard, kicking up a cloud of dirt. “Those are leg weights. Put those on first. Once you’ve gotten used to those, we’ll graduate to arm weights. Then weighted training clothes. And we’ll keep doubling the weights as we go.”  
>  The leg weights felt heavier once they were wrapped into place. I picked up each foot once the weights were on, left first, then the right, and put it down in what I assumed was a gentle way, but it ended up sinking my foot into the dirt.

This was the day. The day after everyone graduated. Part of me was unreasonably excited about this. Surprisingly, even Naruto had graduated. Though, I’d heard it wasn’t exactly the standard graduation.   
I was sitting in the back of the classroom, waiting.   
“Ahhh, graduation day. The day we find out what team we are placed on!” Kiba plopped down in the seat next to me. “I hope I end up on your team.” He bumped my shoulder.   
Hinata, already seated on the other side of me, leant around Kiba to smile. “I-I do t-too!”  
“Knowing your luck, you’ll be put on Sasuke’s team,” Kiba joked, bumping me again, laughing.  
I glared at him, elbowing his side. “Shut up, he’ll hear you!” I hissed, turning my head in the direction of the aforementioned person.  
He had his head turned slightly in our direction, so I knew he’d heard what was said. Even if he wasn’t looking directly at us, I knew he’d heard.   
Of course, he could also have been paying more attention to us because Kiba was still howling in laughter. I punched his shoulder. “Shut up! Don’t bring unwanted attention to us. We don’t want to be the loud-!”  
“Sasuke-Kun, I’m gonna sit by you!”   
That noisy outbreak came from Sakura, quite literally trampling poor Naruto to sit by that annoying raven-haired boy. Her outburst had most certainly made her the center of attention, and almost every girl in the room was glaring at her as she scooted her chair closer to him, beaming happily.  
I rolled my eyes, turning away from that catastrophe, until I heard a low thump. Naruto had leapt onto the table, and was now glaring straight at Sasuke.   
“Oh, Gods, not again,” I muttered, turning toward Kiba. “Don’t you dare try to jinx my chances of getting on a team with him. I will literally-!”  
Kiba burst out laughing, pointing. “Oh, whoa! No way! Look!”  
I looked, and also promptly burst out laughing. I could barely hear Hinata giggling softly beside me. Kiba, Hinata, and I were the only three full-on laughing. The rest of the class was either seething in anger, or just staring in shock. The angry portion of the class, the girls, were divided almost in half between glaring at us, and glaring at Naruto.  
Satsugai-Sha jumped out of his seat as the girls converged on him. All he did was stand beside him, glaring at everyone, but they backed off.   
Just barely, I heard Naruto whisper, “Thanks. I thought I was gonna die!”  
Satsugai-Sha nodded, and went back to his seat, glaring at anyone who looked too hard at Naruto.   
Even I had to admit, Satsugai-Sha was a little intimidating.   
Iruka-Sensei walked into the classroom, completely oblivious to what happened. He got to the middle of the front of the room, and turned toward us, smiling, eyes flitting from one student to the next. “Starting today, you are no longer my students. You are real Shinobi. You are Genin, as of today. Your journey from here on out will be even more difficult, and soon, you will begin to go on missions, helping the village. Today, we will be placing all of you onto three man teams. Each team will have a Jounin-Sensei. You will be under your Sensei’s instructions to complete your missions, and that is important for your success.”  
“We tried to balance each team’s strengths, and make up for their weaknesses.” There was a small outburst, but Iruka-Sensei kept talking. “So Team 7 will be Haruno, Sakura.”  
She sat up straighter. I couldn’t see her face, but I could bet she was glancing expectantly at Sasuke.  
“Uzumaki, Naruto!”  
Her forehead hit the table while Naruto jumped up from his seat, yelling out happily.  
“And Uchiha, Sasuke.”  
Their positions reversed.  
“It’s funny,” I whispered, “how similar those two are, and they don’t even see it. How don’t they see it?”  
“I’ve no idea. You’d think they’d get along because of it.”   
“Iruka-Sensei! Why do I, an outstanding Shinobi, have to be on that prick’s team?!” Naruto yelled out, standing straight up, pointing at the boy in question.  
Honestly? I was just happy it wasn’t me.  
“Sasuke’s grades were the best in all 30 students. Yours, Naruto, were dead last. We did this to balance the teams.”   
I didn’t hear whatever Sasuke said, but Naruto’s next words were, “What did you call me!?”  
“Give it a rest, Naruto!” Sakura told him. She was already trying to keep the peace. Or stand up for Sasuke. Hard to tell.  
“Team 8 will be,” he checked his notes, “Inuzuka, Kiba.”  
He sat up straighter, poking me with his elbow excitedly.   
“Hyuuga, Hinata.”  
Now he was positively vibrating.  
“And Aburame, Shino.”  
It was almost comical how fast his mood dropped. He turned, probably to look at Shino.  
The quiet boy.   
He growled slightly under his breath. “Dammit.”  
“Team 10 will be Yamanaka, Ino, Akamichi, Choji,” he again checked his notes, “and Nara, Shikamaru.”  
I did a quick count of the others, trying to calculate exactly what team I’d be on, but there were still too many people to guess accurately.   
“Team 6,” what happened to Team 11, “will be Yara, Umegi.” A pause. “Izumo, Hasano, and Hoshikuzu-Hyuuga, Seishiryu.”  
I gritted my teeth at that last name, but said nothing. I’d stopped fighting it a long time ago. I was actually more caught up on the name, for just a moment, than I was on the actual team members, but once I did, I fought the urge to turn and stare at them.   
“Oooh, you got the hyper dude,” Kiba whispered, shivering. “Sorry, man. That’s just great.”

  
It was told to us to wait for our new Sensei. As it turned out, everyone else’s showed up first. With the exception of Team 7.   
So this was how I found myself waiting in the back of the classroom, while Sasuke waited in the middle. I sat in the corner, as far from him as I could get, while also making myself the smallest target I could.   
It was quiet, mostly. Naruto kept mumbling to himself, but other than that, it was pretty silent.  
I sat staring at my desk for the longest time, chewing on my lower lip. The other two members of my team were just as quiet. Well, except Hasano’s constant chewing on, what was it, bubblegum? Chew, chew, chew, chew, chew, chew, chew, chew, pop! I jumped at the pop, and started to turn to glare at the fucker, but as my eyes swept past Sasuke’s still form, I stopped.  
He was staring down at the tabletop in front of him. He wasn’t chewing on his lip or clenching his fists, but I could see the tension in him. It was his eyes. The way he was staring at the tabletop, the look in his eyes.   
I was suddenly struck with nostalgia, staring at him, staring at his desk. That look in his eyes, he was thinking about his family. That threw me back to thinking about my own family, and I realized exactly what he was feeling. Sadness. Grief. The desire to share this graduation with family, with people that matter. I felt that. I knew he was feeling it hard, because usually he’d feel my eyes on him by now, and turn to scowl at me.   
He didn’t turn to look back at me until a good five minutes into me staring at him, and the look he gave me wasn’t a scowl. Just a carefully empty expression.  
Knowing he was trying so hard to be neutral, and not wanting to break that concentration, I turned my eyes away, but not before giving him a small, sad smile. The smile had been a reaction, something I really hadn’t meant to do, but it slipped out before I could stop it.  
And now he was staring at me, that same carefully empty look on his face. He started to push his chair back, like he was going to stand. I have no idea what would’ve happened then, because the door slid open.  
The person standing there could’ve been our age. She had to have been about my height. Maybe a little taller. She was wearing a black pair of form-fitting pants, with brown holster straps on both knees, holsters on her hips, a red, long-sleeved shirt pushed to her elbows, and a black, high-collared undershirt. The collar of the black shirt hit her chin, and the red shirt was unbuttoned slightly more than halfway, and I could see skin where the black undershirt ended just under her breasts. Fingerless gloves, mesh elbow length gloves underneath, covered small, delicate hands. Her dark brown hair was waist-length, thick, and straight as a nail. Eyes were a bright green, and upturned slightly at the corners, standing out in a pretty, narrow face. She definitely looked young, about our age, but the look in her eyes was much older. “Izumo, Hasano.” She was looking at a piece of crumpled paper, one with our names on it probably. “Yara, Umegi, and Hoshikuzu-Hyuuga, Seishiryu.” She looked up from that paper, tossing it to the floor carelessly. “Come on. We’re late.”  
Hasano ran down toward her, tripping about five feet away and face-planting on the floor. Umegi, whom I’d never really paid attention to before, skipped down toward her. Me? I hesitated. This was my new group. It wasn’t the group I wanted. Hell, I’d never spoken to either of those kids before. Umegi was too girly, if I was honest, and Hasano was loud, boisterous, and crazy. I avoided them both. Now . . . now, I had to stand and make my way down there, to the people I avoided the most.  
All three of them watched my descent with varying expressions. Hasano was excited, bouncing in place, with a blood-streak across his upper lip from where he’d hastily wiped blood off his face. Umegi was blushing, but excited. The woman, who even Hasano was just slightly taller than, watched me with an unreadable face. Blank, empty almost. Nothing.   
She’d turned and started tapping her foot before I’d gotten more than halfway down.   
I passed Sasuke’s row, and he reached across to grab my wrist, making me turn to look at him. His expression was just as unreadable as my new Sensei’s. “Don’t blow it,” he told me, voice low. “Don’t just blurt it out.”   
Earlier that morning, on the way here, he’d come across me sleeping in the forest. He’d awakened me, and I’d come to in a blurry state, cursed at him, then apologized, and explained why I’d been so testy when he’d wakened me. I’d collapsed there last night, after training for hours with Neji, and dreamt all night about my sisters.  
Actually, dreamed wasn’t the right word. More like, nonstop nightmares. All night. I’d woken up from that nightmare in an irritated mood, and ended up saying things that not even I would say, and apologized. The apology apparently had made him very suspicious, and he’d questioned me until I’d blurted out the nightmares. He’d convinced me not to ditch the village right there and go look for my sisters and to talk to my future Sensei about it instead.   
I nodded, not missing the confused glare from Sakura, and shook his hand off my wrist. “I will. I . . . I promise.” By the time I got to my team members, our Sensei was already halfway out of the building. We had to walk a little faster to catch up to her.   
She said nothing. Literally nothing. And even shushed Hasano several times, until we found ourselves deep in the forest. Then she finally stopped, turned toward us, and smiled. It seemed like a friendly smile, but there was something about it that I didn’t really like. “Most Sensei will begin their training tomorrow. I, on the other hand, believe there’s no better time to start than today.” She started walking toward something, with light, sure steps. Her shoulders were straight, held high, back extended, perfectly postured, and her arms waved back and forth as she moved. Five, ten, fifteen steps, then she reached up and began pulling her long, brown hair into a messy ponytail. “I’m not gonna waste time getting to know you, either, because you may not even stick around.”  
I glanced at the other two, not sure what she meant.   
“See, here’s how this goes.” She ducked behind a tree for a good twenty seconds, then came back out wielding a giant hammer, slung over one shoulder, and that same smile that seemed friendly, but really wasn’t. “You only get to graduate if you impress me and pass my test. If you don’t,” she raised her hand to study her nails, “then it’s back to the Academy you go.”   
All three of us then straightened, and we exchanged wary glances with each other. Hasano was the only one to raise his hand, and wait for her to look at him. He stood there awkwardly for a moment, as if not sure if he should speak or not, but then blurted out, “How are we supposed to impress you?”  
The smile seemed, to me, to get even more dark. “I’ll get to that in a moment. First, the rules.” She held up three fingers. “I only have three. Rule One; If I tap you with my hammer,” at this, she swung the hammer from her shoulder, and let it drop to the ground, only for it to sink several inches into the earth and kick up dust, “you have lost, and must sit and wait for rescue. If nobody is able to rescue you, then you all lose. Rule Two: The one who gets tapped will not be going back to the Academy.” She paused.  
Again, Hasano raised his hand. “Where will that one go?”  
“The one who gets tapped will be leaving the world of Shinobi forever. He, or she, will no longer qualify to be a Shinobi. Ever.”  
My breath caught. Hasano tensed, and I saw his fists tighten. Umegi jerked, very subtly.   
“And what, Sensei, is your third rule?” Umegi asked softly.  
That smile widened, turning to a grin. An evil grin. “Rule Three: Run. Run fast.”   
And we ran. Into different directions. All three of us darted off into the forest, and I could hear Hasano’s breathing even as I did. I hoped he didn’t panic, but it sounded like he already was.   
Today, the forest seemed bright, sunny, and friendly, like our new Sensei’s smile, but only on the surface. Under that, there was a darkness. A mystery.  
“I’ll give you thirty seconds!” she yelled into the forest. “Starting at ten! Eleven! Twelve!”  
So . . . twenty seconds? But why say thirty then? Either way, I ran, then scaled a tree as quickly, and silently as I could, just so I could have a place to see everything.   
Then I heard something crashing through the bushes. Not in my general direction, but close enough that I moved backward until my back was flush against the tree trunk, hard enough that I could’ve become part of the tree.   
Just barely, I saw her sprint past, with that hammer held back over her head. She was taking wide, huge steps as she ran through the forest, and that smile on her face–well, if I survived today, that smile would haunt me forever.

  
The tree had been quite literally nothing to her, and she’d swung that giant hammer so hard, it cut through that tree like knife through butter. How one could swing a blunt hammer through the air and cut a tree in half, I’d never know. I knew one thing, though: This woman was not one to play with.   
So I was on the run again. This time, literally. I’d barely made it to the ground without her hammer finding my head, and now I was running. My feet barely touched the earth as I ran.   
Umegi was running behind me, almost screaming in her panic, and I was sure she was going to end up passing out.   
How do we win this? What is it we had to do to win?  
She suddenly screamed, and I saw her throwing herself to the side to avoid the hammer that streaked through the air to land inches from her. She landed on her ass, holding her hand up to ward off the blow she knew was coming. Pure terror spread across her face.   
I hesitated, but she looked terrified and helpless, and I felt bad for her. So, without thinking about it, I darted across toward her, stood over her crumpled form, and covered my face with my arms, waiting. The wind from the hammer whooshed around me, but nothing actually touched me. A few seconds passed, but nothing happened, and I opened my eyes just slightly. My breath froze.  
The hammer wasn’t even an inch from my face. The only thing stopping it from touching my forehead was a single breath.   
“Huh.” It finally was pulled away from my face, then dropped to the side of me, hard enough to sink into the earth. Kita was studying me with her wide, green eyes. “Why’d you do that?”  
I gestured toward Umegi. “She looked terrified.”  
“So you decided to take the blow, knowing if you got hit, I’d send you out of the world of Shinobi forever.”  
Actually . . . I’d forgotten that part. I’d totally forgotten that part. I hadn’t even thought about it before running between her hammer and Umegi. The only thing I’d been thinking was that I could take the hit better than she could.   
“And you,” she called out, turning her head just slightly, “in the trees. Readying yourself to attack, right?”  
Hasano dropped down from a tree, setting himself into a fighting stance.   
She laughed. “You can relax, child. We’re done here.” She’d let go of the hammer and backed away slightly from it, raising her hands as if in surrender. “I’m surprised. I wasn’t expecting you guys to pass the first time around. I was gonna give you a few trial runs first. But y’know what? I kinda like you guys. So.” She surveyed the three of us. “Let’s get on with this. We’ll do a quick training session, then get some food, and we’ll be done for the day.” She pulled something from her pocket, tossing it to me. “Here. Catch.”  
I studied the thing she’d tossed me. A long, thick, dark strip of cloth. “Blindfolds?” I asked, watching her toss a second one to Umegi.   
Kita tossed a third blindfold to Hasano. “Don’t put them on yet. I need to give you one more thing.” She disappeared into the trees for a good five minutes, came bakc, and tossed something else at our feet–something that hit the ground hard, kicking up a cloud of dirt. “Those are leg weights. Put those on first. Once you’ve gotten used to those, we’ll graduate to arm weights. Then weighted training clothes. And we’ll keep doubling the weights as we go.”  
The leg weights felt heavier once they were wrapped into place. I picked up each foot once the weights were on, left first, then the right, and put it down in what I assumed was a gentle way, but it ended up sinking my foot into the dirt. “These are . . . really heavy.”  
“They’re not that heavy. Blindfolds. Hurry it up, will ya? We don’t have all day.”  
I tied my own thick, black blindfold on. I saw nothing through it, but knew, if I activated my Byakugan, I could see through it easily.  
“And you, the Hyuuga brat, don’t you dare cheat. This is a very good training exercise, and will benefit even you to cooperate with it.”  
I nodded, kind of wandering if she was a mind reader. “Now what?”  
“Now, we train. Hard. Without sight. That’s what.” She paused. “Hasano, you first.”


	8. Truce?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It might’ve been a surprise to see Sasuke standing at my door with his hands shoved into his pockets, but really, nobody else would’ve visited me. Except maybe my new teammates, but that seemed unlikely, since it had been Sasuke whom I’d invited over less than an hour ago. “Hi,” I breathed.  
>  He stared at me for a sold thirty seconds before answering me. “Gonna let me in?” He wore the same guarded expression as usual, but there was a strange uncertainty in his voice, a vulnerability, that I really hadn’t expected, and hadn’t heard in years.  
>  I stepped to the side, gesturing for him to come in. 

Everything hurts. I winced, walking a little slower than usual. There were many sore spots, places that were bruises, or would be bruises. While it hurt to walk, and I wanted nothing more than to go home and take a nice, long bath, I had one stop to make first.   
The Uchiha garden may not be in top shape anymore, but it was still a beautiful place to me, thanks to the efforts of both myself and Sasuke. Though neither one of us admitted to the other that we were tending the garden, I think we both knew the other was. And I knew, without having to be told, that Sasuke would be there tonight.   
I wasn’t sure, however, if I’d already missed him. It was dark already. Kita-Sensei had kept us for hours in training. From what Kita had told us, the other Sensei weren’t starting their training today. Just orientation. So I didn’t doubt that other teams had been released hours before we had.   
The garden was empty, as far as I could see. “So I missed you after all,” I mumbled, sighing. “No point in wasting this visit, though.” I dropped to my knees, checking the flowerbed, but not finding any weeds. Freshly moved dirt caught my attention, but no weeds. “Beat me to it, huh.” I sighed again, studying the flowers in front of me, touching the soft petals with light fingers. The scent was sweet and light, but powerful. I could smell the nectar in them.   
“The weeds are already gone.”  
I jumped, shooting to my feet before I had a moment to remember my soreness. In an instant, my whole body seized up in protest. A sharp, slow breath came from me. “Ouch,” I gasped, closing my eyes for just a second. “You startled me.”  
“I see that,” Sasuke said smoothly. He had one brow raised, and a slight upward tilt to his lips. There was a small smear of dirt across his cheek, and his hands were tinged with dirt also. He hadn’t been wearing gloves. “Careful. You’ll hurt yourself moving that fast.”  
That was a baited comment, but I hadn’t come here to fight, or argue–though he probably assumed I would. After all, I usually was the one who started the arguments, or fights. Keeping that in mind, I let that baited comment bounce off without adding anything to it. “How long have you been here?”  
“Since Kakashi let us leave.”   
Oh, gee. What a helpful answer. “Okay. I see you’ve gotten rid of all the weeds.”   
“Didn’t have anything better to do.”  
So what are you still doing here? I wanted to ask. I didn’t, but I wanted to. “Sasuke. . . .” I hesitated, not really sure how to begin.   
He shifted his weight, watching me with a guarded expression.   
“I saw your face . . . today. While we were waiting for our sensei.”  
He tensed then, straightening as he did. His eyes narrowed slightly, mouth pressed into a tight line, and his breathing became more shallow.   
“Look, I didn’t come here to fight. I came here looking for you, believe it or not, but not to fight. I just wanted to . . . talk, for a minute.” I’d had the better part of today, while waiting to train with Kita, to think about what I wanted to say to him. “I wanted to propose something.” One brow quirked upward again, and he tilted his head slightly. He opened his mouth to say something, and I cut him off. “No, just . . . don’t. Just wait. Let me talk, don’t say anything. Just think about what I have to say. Okay?”  
Several seconds passed. He studied me, eyes seeming to take in my every movement, every breath. After a moment, his shoulders dropped slightly, the tenseness left his arms, and he let out a breath, then nodded.  
I angled my eyes toward the ground, not sure if I could continue if I was looking directly at him. “I saw your face today, and it . . . got me thinking. Today’s a big day. Huge, really. We’ve graduated from the Academy. No more child’s games. We’re finally starting to enter the wide, wide world of Shinobi. And neither one of us thought we’d be doing that, without our families there to cheer us on. I know I always envisioned this day, with my family there to celebrate with me. I know you have too. So I know how you feel, and you know how I feel, and to be honest, we’re the only people we know who actually understand what that’s like.   
“What it’s like to come home from a rough day, to no family to talk to. What it’s like to come home from an amazing day, with no family to celebrate with. And personally, I think it’s harder coming home with something special to celebrate, but nobody to celebrate it with you. I don’t know if you feel that way, but it’s how I feel. I’ve been thinking today that you know how that feels. Today’s a good day, but it’s also a rough one. And it shouldn’t be, y’know? I’ve been thinking a lot today about it all, and I think I came up with something that could be a slight solution. Maybe you’ll think it’s stupid, maybe you won’t, but I’m gonna propose it to you anyway.  
“You know what it’s like to come home after a rough day to nobody being there. I know what it’s like. As crazy, and annoying, and irritating as it is, we can relate to each other in that way.” I was rambling, and really needed to stop. I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders, and let the breath back out. “So here’s what I propose: On days you are finding it really hard to be alone, I want you to know that you’re welcome at my house. While we’re there, we let go of any hostility we feel toward each other, and we just talk, or relax, or watch movies, or just eat and stare at the walls, I don’t care.   
“But we don’t have to be alone, when we don’t have to be, y’know? So whether you take me up on this offer tonight, or tomorrow, or three weeks from now, or ten years from now, my door’s always open. In the morning, we forget everything that happened. We go back to our normal routine. We’re both so used to it by now that it’s natural. We don’t bring anything up we talked about. We don’t act like we’re suddenly friends. Nothing else has to change with us. Just know that, my door, it’s always open. Even if you never decide to take me up on it.” I glanced up at him to find his face unreadable, his eyes slightly wide, lips parted slightly. “But, um, don’t say anything yet. Just think about it, and, uh. . . . I’m, uh, I’ve gotta go.”   
My little cottage was pretty close to the Uchiha compound. It was small, but it was home. In the middle of the woods, away from everyone, it was given to me after my situation at the Hyuga compound just wasn’t working. It sat on the very outer edges of the property my family had bartered from the Leaf Village, where they’d been building their own home away from home when they’d been killed. It was offered to me to stay in that mansion, but I refused, and instead said I just wanted a small place to call home.  
Originally, I’d been supposed to only stay in it long enough for an apartment to open up in the building Sasuke lived, but I ended up loving it, and begging to stay there. The first room you came into was the living room. It had a small, two-cushioned couch that seated two, a television, a coffee table, and beige, fluffy carpet. The walls were white.   
Directly across from the front door was the door to the kitchen. The kitchen was small, and had a back door that led out to the woods. The counters, floor, walls, and cabinets were a light-colored wood. The table was a small, light-colored wooden square table, with matching chairs. On the left side of the living room, right before reaching the kitchen, there was the hallway that led to the bathroom, then my bedroom. The bathroom was first, on the right side of the hallway. My bedroom was next, also on the right side of the hallway.   
My bedroom had soft, light blue carpet, light blue walls, and a four-poster, wooden bed, with white, thick, comfy blankets, and black, soft sheets. The black blankets that matched that sheet were currently being washed.   
It was home, and I loved it.   
The second I got home, I started putting together a batch of homemade ramen. It was sort of like a comfort food for me, now, even after all these years. To add to that comfort, I threw together a batch of strawberry-blueberry pastries that always reminded me of home. I’d pre-prepared everything this morning before I’d left for the Academy, so it took less than half an hour to get everything on.  
I was just about to hop in the shower when I heard a quick, heavy knock at my door. Halfway down my hallway, I froze, looking in the direction of my front door. It couldn’t be Sasuke, could it? Did he take me up on my offer?   
It might’ve been a surprise to see Sasuke standing at my door with his hands shoved into his pockets, but really, nobody else would’ve visited me. Except maybe my new teammates, but that seemed unlikely, since it had been Sasuke whom I’d invited over less than an hour ago. “Hi,” I breathed.  
He stared at me for a sold thirty seconds before answering me. “Gonna let me in?” He wore the same guarded expression as usual, but there was a strange uncertainty in his voice, a vulnerability, that I really hadn’t expected, and hadn’t heard in years.  
I stepped to the side, gesturing for him to come in.   
As he walked past me, he sniffed the air a few times. “Smells like . . . ramen.” His voice softened at the last word.  
“Sorry,” I quickly said. “I mean, I invited you, but I didn’t really expect you to come, and I already had this planned for the meal tonight. I know it might be a bigger deal to you than me, so . . . I’m sorry.”  
He looked at me then, and there was a weight to that look that took my breath away for an instant. “My mom’s recipe. It smells like hers.”  
My lips twitched in an awkward attempt to smile. “Yea. I, uh, I tried. I didn’t remember it fully, I don’t think.”  
He walked past me, through my living room, following the smell to the kitchen, I guess. The batch of ramen was on the stove, and he lifted the lid to sniff. “Where are your herbs?”  
I pointed to my cabinet, then stood back and watched him add about three things to the mixture, mix it, taste it, then add a bit more and repeat. “Did I forget them, or not enough?”  
He moved around my kitchen like he was used to it. “Neither. I just like it that way.” He turned toward me, studied me for a second. “I didn’t make it too hot, so you should be fine.”   
I smiled then, a bit. “So. You cook?”  
“Don’t look so surprised. How would I have survived this long without learning?”   
“True, I guess.” I had known it would be, but it was very awkward, a little tense, standing there with Uchiha, Sasuke in my kitchen. “I was, uh, about to take a quick shower when you showed up.”   
“Don’t let me stop you. I’ll keep an eye on this stuff here.” He gestured to the ramen. “And whatever you’ve got in the oven.”  
“I’ll be out of the shower by the time that needs taken out. I’m never long.”  
“Alright. I’ll be here.”   
Ten minutes later, he was still there, stirring the ramen, and, strangely, something he had apparently put on a second burner. I paused in the doorway. “Rice?” I guessed.  
“I like rice,” he said softly. “It’s been awhile since I had any. I’ve been . . . busy.”   
I wasn’t even sure where he found the rice at. It had been buried in some cabinet somewhere, but he must’ve dug for it, and left no trace of his search. “Do you have all the ingredients you need for . . . whatever you’re making?”  
He nodded. “Yea. Everything’s here. It’s nothing special. Just plain rice. I plan to add mine to my ramen. I don’t know what you’ll do with yours.”  
“Probably the same. I thought I was the only one who adds my rice to ramen. Or miso soup, when I make it.”  
“No, I do the same thing.” He stirred his rice slowly. “How was your day?”  
“Hard,” I admitted, sinking into the closest chair. “Really hard. Did your Sensei start training you today?”  
He glanced at me. “No? Did yours? We start tomorrow, early.”   
“Lucky.”   
“Why?”  
“Our Sensei started training us today. After chasing us with a giant hammer.”  
He dropped the chopsticks he was holding to stir, and turned toward me, blinking. “What? Wait, what?”  
It made me chuckle to see his reaction, so I started to tell him about my day with my new team and Sensei. He laughed when I told him about her producing the giant hammer, laughing even harder when I described her chasing us with it. “I really thought we were going to die. It just seemed like she was going to kill us!” And when I told him about her blindfolding us and throwing rocks at us, he became silent, eyes narrowing.  
He grabbed my arm before I’d finished talking, which silenced me. Without saying a thing, he ran his fingers over a sore spot on my arm that had already become a bruise. “So that’s how you got bruised.”  
I nodded. “Oh, yea, there’s a couple places.”  
His eyes moved from my arm, to my face, fixing on a spot on my forehead I felt was sore. “She hit you here too?” He reached up, brushing that bruise with his thumb. “Looks like it bled a little.”  
Meeting his eyes made me feel like we were far too close. I shrugged. “It’s training. We’re all gonna get beaten up sooner or later during training.”   
“True.” His word was agreeable, but his voice made it clear he didn’t agree. “I’m sure most Sensei won’t be blindfolding their students on the first day of training to throw rocks at them.”  
“I’m sure most of’em aren’t going to chase them with hammers bigger than their bodies, either, but apparently, our Sensei is a psycho.” I stood then, turning away from him to go stir the ramen. This was a choose I made to shake off the feeling of being too close to him. “So, uh, game plan tonight is to eat, and talk? Or watch a movie, I guess.”  
“I’m down for either,” he said softly.   
I opened the oven door, sniffing the pastries I had in there. Like creme puffs, but with a blueberry-strawberry filling, instead of cream. My own creation, in a way, that I tweak every time I made, to get it closer to what I used to eat at home. I get closer each time I make it. This time, I added a tiny bit of red raspberries, and I hoped that would change it to the right taste. Grabbing the potholders, I reached in to grab the pan, pulling it out. After I’d pulled them out, but before I put them on the counter, the muscles in my bruised right arm jumped suddenly, and I slammed the hot pan into the exposed flesh of my left wrist. I yelped, and my hands released their grip instantly.  
Sasuke was there, catching the hot pan and setting in on the counter, hands bare, then grabbing my arm and pulling me toward the sink. Without a word, he flicked on the cold water, and shoved my wrist under the stream. “It’s okay, it’s not that bad,” he said after a couple minutes. “You barely burnt yourself.”  
I was staring at him, and knew I had to stop that, but . . . did he just catch that hot pan, without any potholders? “Y-you burnt yourself worse than I burnt myself.”  
He glanced into my face, attention still mostly on my wrist. “How did I burn myself?”  
“Y-you caught that pan without anything on your hands!”  
He released my wrist, and held both his hands up, palms toward me. They weren’t even red. “I’m from the Uchiha Clan. We’re fire-users. My hands have been used to handling fire. A hot pan isn’t going to do anything.”  
“Right,” I whispered. “Right.”   
He stroked his thumb over my burn again, turning it this way and that. “It just needs a little burn salve. Do you have any?”  
“In the bathroom, in the cabinet.”  
“Stay.” He squeezed the wrist that was under the stream of water emphatically. “Don’t move.”   
I waited until after his footsteps moved into the hallway, then went to check on my pastries. They looked good. A little displaced from dropping them, but not bad. The fruit puree had exploded from one of them, but not badly. Just a little.   
“I told you to stay.” His voice made me jump.  
“I guess,” my voice was a little breathy, “I’m not that good at obeying commands.”   
His hand closed around my upper arm. “Just let me bandage you, then you can go ahead and hurt yourself again.” Again, he shoved my wrist under the water, then patted it dry, put salve on it, and wrapped it in a bandage. “Better.”  
“It didn’t need all that. It was just a small burn.”  
“Just humor me.”   


Dinner was delicious, and it was different, having someone to eat with. We ended up in the living room, with a bowl of ramen each–both having put rice in it–and a plate of pastries on the coffee table, as we chatted and watched some stupid movie. I don’t really know if either one of us paid much attention to the movie. I know I didn’t. I wasn’t even sure I remember what movie it was. It didn’t seem important.   
I fell asleep on the couch, curled up on the armrest, but woke up in my bed, covered up. On the end table next to my bed was a note with, “Thanks,” hastily scribbled on it. When I ventured out from my room, it was barely 5 AM, and he was already gone.   
Part of me wanted to go back to bed. The other part of me knew we had to meet with Kita-Sensei in a few hours. I started to go back toward my room when there was a knock on my door.   
Halfway expecting Sasuke, but knowing it couldn’t be him–he’d told me he had to meet with his Sensei really early–I went to the door, opening it to find Hasano on the other side.  
He was bouncing up and down, licking a sucker, and grinning. “Hi, hi! So I thought we should all spend some time together! Before we meet up with Sensei Kita. It makes sense to me that we should get to know our teammates.”  
“Where’s Umegi?”  
“She’s over there.” Turning slightly, he turned, pointing. “Waiting.”  
“Do you expect me to let you in?”  
Shaking his head, he stuck the sucker into his mouth for a good twenty seconds before answering. “No. Uh-uh. We were going to go to breakfast.”  
I leant back slightly to check the clock on the wall in my living room, next to the hallway. “At 5:25 AM?”  
“Well, yea.”  
“He woke me up too!” I heard Umegi yell.   
I sighed, closed my eyes, and shook my head. “Give me fifteen.”   
Time to start getting to know my team.


	9. First Real Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He was an older man, probably in his thirties or so. Older, fit, with brown hair and green eyes. He swung his other fist at me.  
>  I ducked, gripped his arm in both of my hands and twisted it with me as I ducked.   
>  He yelped, but yanked his arm away before I could do any real damage, and was coming at me before I could recover fully from the duck. He kicked out.  
>  Once more, I ducked under his leg, and struck upward with my kunai as I did, hitting right below his knee.   
>  Another strained, hurt sound fell from him and he crumpled, grabbing his knee and breathing a little harder.  
>  I started to lung toward him and someone grabbed me from behind. Before I could react, a sharp pain exploded in my side. Looking down, I saw the handle of a kunai embedded in my side. I gasped, reaching down to grab it, while someone shoved me toward the ground. Twisting before I hit the ground kept me from hitting my injured side. I pulled the kunai out as I twisted. Kunai in hand, I got to my feet. 

The journey to Sunagakure was a long one, but one I was happy to have. We finally had our first real mission. It was something small, and barely a mission, but at least it was something.   
Hasano had jumped up and down and squealed like someone had given him his deepest dreams. He had switched from suckers to gum now, and was constantly chewing, chewing, chewing that gum, with the occasional pop.   
Umegi had been starting to come out of her shell finally, and she was also just as excited about our first real mission. She hadn’t squealed, but she’d giggled.   
“The Kazekage will see you now.” The words came from the tall, scarred Shinobi who’d just walked out of the office. Behind him, a group of three people came out. They turned in our direction, and I recognized at least one of them.   
Red hair, pale teal eyes lined in black, pale skin. “G-Gaara?” Six years. It had been six years since I’d last seen him. I’d met him at my fifth birthday party, and again at my sixth, but my family had died on my seventh birthday, so I hadn’t seen him since. Seeing him there, at that time, it made me freeze actually. His name came out as a whisper.   
He was followed by a blond girl, and a boy wearing a black hoodie. They were all about our age, and had come from the Kazekage’s office. He walked past me without saying a thing. His eyes focused straight ahead, not even venturing to the side for a second to see me. He walked past me like he’d never seen me before. He was a good five, six feet ahead of the other two, and walking much faster.   
I turned. “Ga-!”  
Someone grabbed my arm, turning me toward them. The boy with the black hoodie. He smiled, but it was a tense, unfriendly smile. “Hey, I remember you. You’re that girl from Hoshigakure.” His eyes ran up and down me. “What are you doing with a Konoha headband, in a Konoha shinobi team?”  
“I’m a Leaf Genin now,” I said, my mouth slightly dry. “I’m sorry, I was trying to talk to-!”  
“Yea, I know. I stopped you. You’re welcome. I just saved your life.” He let go of my arm a little forcefully. “A scrawny little brat like you wouldn’t stand a chance against Gaara.”  
I tensed. “Gaara’s my friend.”  
“Gaara doesn’t have friends. Gaara has victims.”  
I glanced back toward Gaara, who’d paused slightly, and saw his back tense before he continued to walk. “Gaara is my friend,” I said more firmly this time.  
“No. He’s not.” He brushed past me, knocking me to the side as he did. “Count yourself lucky that I stopped you.”  
“Hey-!”  
“Seishiryu, we have business to attend to,” Kita-Sensei tapped my shoulder, “so let’s get on with it, please.”  


“Yea, our mission went well,” I paused, taking a drink of my milk, “but I was disappointed that it wasn’t more challenging.” Also disappointed I couldn’t talk to Gaara.   
“Challenging. At least you’ve gotten your first real mission.” Sasuke was nursing a cat scratch. “Our mission was chasing and catching someone’s pet cat.” He took a bite of rice.   
“Well, that sounds fun.”   
He let out a frustrated sound. “Naruto makes things so much more difficult. He jumped on that cat.” A small, tense pause, then he smiled slightly. “The only consolation for that is he got scratched. Bad.”  
I couldn’t help it, I laughed at that. “That’s kind of awesome. How bad?”  
“Bad. Everywhere. I’m surprised he still has a face left.”  
“Now that, I wish I’d seen!”  
“Is there any rice left?”  
I nodded. “Yea, there’s enough left for you to have another bowl.”  
He stood, grabbed his cup, my cup, and his bowl, then went into the kitchen, coming back moments later with his refilled bowl, and another cup of tea. “Here.” The cup he was holding out to me wasn’t his. It was mine, and it had milk in it, not tea.   
“W-where’s yours?”  
“I gotta go back to grab it. Take this.”  
I took it, staring at him. “Thanks.”  
He set his bowl of rice down on the coffee table and went to grab his tea. Sitting next to me, he grabbed the remote, settling deeper into the couch. “I’m not really getting sucked into whatever this is. What about you?”  
“Nah, change it.” A knock on the door made me jump. “Hold that thought.”   
“Expecting company? Should I leave?”  
I shook my head. “No. It’s probably just Hasano.”  
It was. Standing there, bouncing up and down as fast as he could. Hasano, with Umegi. “Hey, hi, what’s up? What are you doing tonight?” Not waiting for me to invite him in, he brushed past me, freezing when he saw Sasuke casually sitting on my couch, sipping his tea. “Uh, am I interrupting a date?”  
“What? No! We’re just . . . hanging out.”  
“As friends.”   
“Oh. Okay. Well, Umegi and I thought we should hang out and celebrate our successful mission.”  
“Well, Sasuke and I-!”  
“Let them join.”   
I turned toward him. “Are you sure? Won’t you be uncomfortable?”  
He shrugged, taking a bite of his rice. “There’s no food left, and I’m not cooking anything else.”  
“What about popcorn? Could make popcorn and watch scary movies.”  
“Okay. I can make some pop-?”  
Sasuke was on his feet and making his way to the kitchen. “I got it, just sit down. Find a movie that isn’t boring.”  
“I brought one!” Hasano announced, holding up a small, cloth bag filled with movies. “Let’s watch movies and eat popcorn!” He bounced his way over to my television, pulling a random movie from the bag.   
I heard the pop, pop, pop of popcorn. A minute or two passed as I watched Hasano setting up the movie.   
“What kind of movies do you have in there?” Umegi asked him, sitting down on my couch.   
“Oh, all horror movies. I figured we could do a theme movie night after every mission. Tonight, it’s horror movies!”  
“That’s not a theme,” carrying a bag of popcorn, Sasuke walked back in, set it on the coffee table, “it’s a genre. A theme would be ‘paranormal movies,’ or ‘serial killer movies.’ Not just horror movies. That’s too broad to be a theme.”   
“Okay, well, having a ‘genre’ night doesn’t sound right.” Hasano frowned at Sasuke, which didn’t fit his usually happy-go-lucky face.   
Shrugging, he turned back toward the kitchen. “I’ll make one more bag.”   
“Should I get the kitchen chairs? My couch isn’t that big.”  
A couple minutes passed as I watched Umegi and Hasano settle on my couch. “Nah, Umegi can sit on my lap, you can sit on-!”  
“I am not sitting on Sasuke’s lap.”  
“What did I just walk into?”  
Of course you’re standing in the doorway. I sighed. “Deciding on whether or not to bring the kitchen chairs into here for extra seating.”   
“Ah.” He tossed the second bag onto the coffee table. “I’m not sitting on anyone’s lap.”  
“Neither am I.”  
“Alright then, Umegi and I will share a seat. I don’t care if she sits on me! She weighs, like, forty pounds!”  
Umegi giggled. “No way! I’m not sitting on you!”  
“Why not? There’s not enough room for us all on the couch unless we lap-share!”  
“Lap share?”  
“What is wrong with you?” I asked, shaking my head, laughing.  
“How about we think about this? Se, do you have extra, thick blankets?”  
I nodded. “Yea, yea, I do.”  
“Extra pillows?”  
“No-well, I have one extra pillow. And my pillow, I can use my pillow.”  
“Okay, then that’s what we’ll do.”  
Fifteen minutes later, there were two, thick blankets and one thin blanket spread out on the floor, one pillow on each corner. Sasuke and I had taken up residence on separate corners, and Umegi and Hasano took over the couch.  
“Okay. So this isn’t too uncomfortable. Not a bad idea, Sasuke.”  
“Popcorn?” He tilted the bag toward me.   
I took a small handful.   
“Hey, Umegi, open your mouth!” Hasano had a handful of popcorn in one hand, and a single piece in his other hand.  
“You’re not gonna throw that in my mouth.”  
“Yea! Come on, open up!”  
“I’m not cleaning that up,” Sasuke told him, rolling his eyes. “You’ll be cleaning your own mess.”  
He said that like he was the boss here. I mean, I wasn’t going to ask him to clean someone else’s mess, but the way he said it, it was like he lived here. In response to that, I picked up a single piece of popcorn and tossed it at him. It hit him straight on the nose.  
He blinked, then turned toward me. “Did you . . . just throw popcorn at me?”  
I was very focused on the movie that was just starting to play. “Nope. Nuh-uh. No way.”  
He twitched slightly. “You just threw popcorn at me.”   
“I did not! I would ne-!” A single piece of popcorn landed directly in my open mouth. It made me stop talking, and I turned to look at him, narrowing my eyes.   
There was an accomplished smirk on his face. “You missed. I didn’t.”  
I ate the piece he’d tossed into my mouth, slowly, narrowing my eyes at him. Directly after that, I looked between my handful of popcorn, and him several times.  
“Don’t you dare.”  
Meeting his eyes, I smiled. “Don’t I dare, what, Uchiha?”  
His chin lifted. “You know exactly what.”  
“And if I do?”  
“You’ll regret it.”  
I glanced back at Umegi and Hasano, to see him tossing pieces at her, and her tossing them back at him, before throwing my entire handful of popcorn at Sasuke.  
He blocked his face with his arms. “Really?”   
“Really! What are you going to do about it?”  
A second handful was tossed at me. “There’s going to be popcorn everywhere if you don’t watch it.”  
Once again using just a single piece of popcorn, I threw another one at him–right in his ear.  
He shook his head, grabbing that piece. “You want this one in your mouth?”  
“I’ll throw the whole bag at you!”   
Probably not that possible, because he had the bag in his hand, and he switched it over to his other side. “Come get it. But if you do, you’ll be eating this piece.” He displayed the one that had landed slightly in his ear.   
“So you think.”  
“So I know.”  
I tossed another piece at him.   
He caught it, then lunged toward me, grabbing my arm. Feigning a scowl that even I could see was fake, he pinned one arm to the blanket, and held up that piece of popcorn. “I warned you.”  
“Uchiha, Sasuke has a playful side,” Hasano murmured, and I craned my neck backward to see him looking at us. “Who knew.”  
The boy in question cleared his throat, slowly letting my arm go. “It’s getting late. I should go. I’ll, uh, clean this up and. . . .”  
“Oh, no, not yet. It was fun. Stay, please? No more popcorn throwing. I promise.”   
His eyes met mine. “No more popcorn throwing?”  
“None. Not from me, anyway.”  
A slight nod, and a slight smile. “You actually asking me to stay?”  
“Mm-hm. But don’t you dare tell anyone that.”  
The smile grew, and he nodded. “You got it. I won’t tell a soul.”

  
Sasuke was actually still asleep on the blanketed floor when I was awakened by a knock on the door. I’d semi expected him to be gone by now. He usually was. Umegi was asleep on one end of my couch, and Hasano was asleep on the other. As quietly as I could, I stretched, stood, and made my way to the front door. It creaked as I opened it, and I winced, looking back, but nobody had moved.  
Kita-Sensei stood there, tapping her foot, as impatient as always. The sun wasn’t even up yet. She had her arms crossed and was wearing her battle gear–which I’d only ever seen her in when she went on solo missions. “Umegi and Hasano aren’t at home, so I’m assuming they’re here.” It kind of was a question, but it wasn’t, at the same time.   
I answered the question-not-question anyway. “Yea, they’re here.”   
“Good. Wake their asses up. We have a mission. A real one.”  
I blinked. “What?”   
“We have a mission. And I’ve got you all some new armor, because on this mission, you just might need it.”  
“Alright. . . . I’ll wake them up.”   
Umegi was already sitting up, rubbing her eyes, looking at us. “Is that Sensei Kita?”  
Nodding, I walked as silently as I could around Sasuke to get to Hasano. “Shh, I don’t want to wake Sasuke. I don’t know how much he sleeps, but it’s not enough, so let’s just let him sleep.” In order to keep the noise down to a minimum, I cupped my hand over Hasano’s mouth and shook him.  
Bright blue eyes snapped open and locked on me. Both brows shot up to his forehead, his eyes widened, and he mumbled something against my hand. When I held up one finger to my lips, he nodded, face returning to a neutral state.   
I lifted my hand from his mouth and pointed toward the door, then once again held one finger to my lips, and pointed down toward Sasuke.  
His eyes followed where I pointed both times, and he nodded again, standing as silently as he could.   
Sasuke was still asleep when we left the living room, and still asleep when I closed and locked my door behind me. Taking a breath deep enough my chest swelled with it, I felt pretty relieved, and hoped he’d manage to sleep for at least a couple more hours. It was still dark out, after all.   
Oh, wait. What? It’s still dark out. “What time is it?”  
“It’s a little after 3 AM,” Kita turned to lead us back toward the village, “but it’s important that we get started.”  
“What’s going on?” Hasano yawned in the middle of the word “going,” so it came out like “Gooo-ahhhhhhhhh-gg.”   
“We have a mission. A real one. I’ll explain more after you’ve woken up, eaten something, and gotten dressed. We’ll get ready at my place.”  
Kita’s house was modest, on the edge of town, not too far from my little cottage. It had two bathrooms, two bedrooms, a living room twice the size of mine, a kitchen that was, again, double the size of my own, and a dining room. She brought us to the dining room, where the dining table was covered in gear. Backpacks, clothes, shoes, weapons, the works. “Your usual gear for missions won’t work for this one, so I went ahead and got you all the real deal. We’ll all be matching. In your backpacks is your food. Find a breakfast bar and eat, or don’t, it’s up to you.”  
We all did, including Kita. We ate our breakfast quickly, knowing we’d need the energy, sipping at our water since we didn’t know how long we’d be gone.   
“Your battle gear will help minimize injuries. It’s also weighted, so you no longer need to wear weights. When we get more synchronized as a team, I’ll let you all customize your gear later. For now, we’re all just gonna match. Grab your gear, and get dressed. You may use either of the two bathrooms to do so, or just put your gear on top of your clothing. It would be better to just put your gear on top.”  
And that’s what we all decided to do. Kita hadn’t been lying when she’d said our gear was weighted. It was heavier than the weights she had us wrap around our arms and legs. Not by too much, but enough that it was noticeable.   
“These are heavy.” Umegi made a small, soft squeak when she tried to walk after putting hers on.  
“Yes, I wasn’t planning on giving you your battle gear yet, but . . . here we are.”  
Our battle gear happened to be black, thick, fitted suits into which I had to tuck my long hair to put the hood on. Our faces were fully covered by black cloth, including our eyes. Hands covered, feet covered, every inch of our skin was covered, and the entire thing was heavy, and hot.   
“Sensei Kita, how are we supposed to move with these on? I can’t see a thing!”  
“Yes, well, as I said, you aren’t quite ready for these suits, but you can slide the face covering down just enough to show your eyes. No lower than that. Our faces must be fully concealed. Especially for this mission.” I couldn’t see her, but I heard her take a deep breath. “Seishiryu, because of your . . . unusual visage, it would be best if you kept yours up as much as possible.”  
Right. White eyes, white skin. Easy to track. Is that why Kita-SenShi had our suits made to conceal every inch of skin? Adjusting my suit just enough for me to see out of, I glanced around my surroundings. Hasano, being the tallest, was the easiest to find. He was standing the closest to the door, and was still struggling to get the right amount of himself uncovered just to see, and nothing more.   
Umegi was the furthest away from the door, but the closest to Kita. She had already adjusted her suit to see and was squinting around the room as though she’d been left in the dark for hours.  
Kita, slightly shorter than Umegi, but taller than myself, was standing beside Umegi. The only reason I could tell them apart, probably, because Umegi, though young, had a figure closely similar to Kita-Sensei. I often heard other girls our age lament over Umegi’s more mature figure, wishing they, too, had matured that way, but Umegi hated that it had made her into more of a social pariah. Most of the girls our age were jealous of her having already matured, and treated her pretty badly over it. I couldn’t really figure out why it mattered.  
Kita was actually more slender than Umegi was, which was something that was noticed by many of our peers. It made me feel bad for Umegi, if I was honest, because she got more attention over it than she could handle. It was another way I could tell the difference between the two of them.   
“So what’s the mission, Kita-Sensei?” Hasano had finally figured out the perfect amount to reveal for him to see. His feet made no sound on the wooden floor as he crept closer. “What’s going on? And how did we get so lucky?”  
“Well, all the more experienced teams are busy at the moment, so we were sort a last resort here,” she admitted. “We weren’t their first choice, but it came down to us, Kakashi’s team, and Kurenai’s team. I just happened to have updated your progress, and Hokage-Sama decided we would be the beset choice. But again, we were up against Kakashi’s team and Kurenai’s team. Now, there’s nothing wrong with either team, but Kurenai’s team isn’t quite the heavy hitter we are, and Kakashi’s team is still working on teamwork, so we just barely managed to be the better choice.”  
“Yay for better teamwork!” Hasano crowed, pumping his fist into the air. “Yay us!”  
“Yes, yay you. You’ve managed to make yourselves into a compatible team, and outperform other teams in the process. We haven’t quite outperformed is Kakashi’s team, but our teamwork far outshines theirs.”  
“Naruto and Sasuke, they’re gonna have a hard time getting along,” Umegi pointed out. “The two of them are like fire and dynamite–they’re just waiting to explode.”  
That was . . . actually a good description of the two of them. I was a little impressed. “Very true.”  
“And Sakura having a crush on Sasuke, while Naruto has a crush on Sakura–that doesn’t help things either.”  
I shook my head. “Nope, it really doesn’t. It’s all gonna make for a rather hostile team environment.”   
“Which means, yay for us, that we got chosen for a real mission instead of them because of our teamship.”  
“Teamship?” Really? Making up words now?   
“Well, it’s true!”  
“It’s also not something to boast about,” Kita gave him what I assumed to be a harsh look, since I couldn’t see her face, “because that means that, while your teamwork is satisfactory, your skills have much room to improve. Besides, we shouldn’t be happy that our team is better than another. We should be happy that our team is better than our team was. We are only competing with ourselves–not with our fellow Shinobi. Remember that.”  
Hasano nodded. “Right, right. Sorry.”   
“Our mission is to gather intel. It’s simple, straightforward, and we mustn’t be seen. Several young women have gone missing in the past few weeks in the Land of Fire. They’ve all been between 16-24, and they’ve all disappeared in the past six weeks. There have been, so far, seventeen young women who have gone missing. There have been no witnesses, no evidence, and no trace of them since they disappeared. It’s as though they’ve just vanished into thin air. We will be traveling to the small village where most of them have vanished from. Once we get there, we’ll set up base camp, and I will be going out as bait.   
“You three will be watching everyone who comes into the building, and everyone who leaves. If you see anything suspicious before I come out, you intervene, but if we manage to hook some big fish with our bait, I’ll lead them outside, we’ll take them into custody and bring them back to Konoha for interrogation.” She tugged her backpack higher. “Ready? Let’s go.”

  
The building was painted a dark color on the outside. I didn’t know what it looked like on the inside, because we were stationed outside, on the tops of other, nearby buildings. Kita-Sensei was inside, having dressed up to look like a regular person, instead of the sometimes terrifying kunoichi she really was.  
She’d done her hair in artful curls around her face and wore a silky red dress and six-inch high heels that made me think she’d break something wearing them, but she wore them like a pro.   
Hasano was on the building directly across from the building Kita went into. I was on the building to the left, and Umegi was on the right.   
I couldn’t see the door as well as Hasano could, but I could see who was going in and out pretty well. It was boring, standing atop this building, just watching the people come and go, but I knew it was important to do this, and to keep my eyes stuck to the door.   
Three hours, I thought to myself. Three hours of waiting. So far. How much longer will we be here?  
“Kita-Sensei just came out,” Hasano’s voice buzzed right into my ear, making me jump. “She’s wobbling and leaning on some guy’s arm.”  
“Does that mean it’s time to go?”  
I nodded at Umegi’s question. “Yea, that means it’s time to go! Hasano, now!”  
Hasano jumped down first, landing in full view of our Sensei and her catch, like we planned, keeping their attention.  
And Umegi and I jumped down while sticking to the darkness, so that we wouldn’t be seen until it was too late. “Umegi, don’t panic, we’ve got this.”  
I could hear her panting slightly through our communication devices. She was nervous.   
In truth, so was I. Sticking to the shadows of the building Kita had come from, I crept up slowly behind them.   
“Who are you?” I heard a strange voice. “Get out of my way!”  
Kita suddenly twisted out of the man’s grip, slamming her foot into the back of his knee as hard as she could, forcing him to his knees. She pulled both of his arms back behind his back and Hasano pulled the bow and arrow from his back, aiming it at the man’s leg. “Shoot!” Kita told him.  
Hasano let the arrow fly, watching it strike deep into the man’s leg. “That’s a poisoned arrow,” Hasano said sternly. “It will paralyze you in five minutes, and kill you in forty if you’re not given the antidote before that. It’s in your best interest not to fight.”  
He struggled against Kita’s obviously stronger hold. “Who are you people?”  
“We are your downfall,” Kita said, twisting his arm tightly. “And-!”  
Umegi suddenly screamed, and we all seemed to jump. I started to move toward her when I felt movement behind me. I twisted to the side just in time for a blade to hit the building, right where I was just standing, and stick deep into the wall. I turned toward the movement just as soon as they lunged at me, and pulled out a kunai to block the one aimed straight at my throat. Knocking that kunai away, I kicked out at their knee.  
He was an older man, probably in his thirties or so. Older, fit, with brown hair and green eyes. He swung his other fist at me.  
I ducked, gripped his arm in both of my hands and twisted it with me as I ducked.   
He yelped, but yanked his arm away before I could do any real damage, and was coming at me before I could recover fully from the duck. He kicked out.  
Once more, I ducked under his leg, and struck upward with my kunai as I did, hitting right below his knee.   
Another strained, hurt sound fell from him and he crumpled, grabbing his knee and breathing a little harder.  
I started to lung toward him and someone grabbed me from behind. Before I could react, a sharp pain exploded in my side. Looking down, I saw the handle of a kunai embedded in my side. I gasped, reaching down to grab it, while someone shoved me toward the ground. Twisting before I hit the ground kept me from hitting my injured side. I pulled the kunai out as I twisted. Kunai in hand, I got to my feet.   
The man I was facing now had blond hair, blue eyes, and tanned skin. He was tall, muscular. He had another kunai in his hand, and he held it like he knew how to use it, unlike the brunette.   
The kunai felt heavier in my hand then. My side hurt, but it was manageable. I threw the kunai at him, and when he paused to block it, I pulled my traditional katana from its black sheath and held it out in an offensive position, feet shoulder-length apart, balanced on the heels of my feet, ready to leap forward at the first chance.   
He lunged forward before I did, and I swung my katana at him. Blocking it with his much smaller kunai, he shoved his fist into my stomach, like he was trying to shove his fist through my stomach.   
It hurt, but I ignored that and kicked at his knee as hard as I could from our closeness.   
He jumped backward, throwing something through the air, toward me. It sliced across my cheek before I could move, and I could feel warm blood flowing freely from that. A shuriken.   
He’s a Shinobi. What do I do?   
He moved toward me in a speed that I could barely follow then, and struck me across the face.  
I hit the ground and slid, hitting the back of my head as I did.   
An arrow whizzed through the air, and I looked up in time to see it barely miss my opponent. Hasano ran into my sight, standing between me and the blond. “You lay one more finger on her, and next arrow won’t miss!” He’d already aimed at him.  
He made a “hmph,” sound, and lowered into a fighting crouch, like he was ready to fight some more, but Kita and Umegi appeared. Kita dropped the paralyzed prisoner beside me as she walked past.   
“Three highly skilled, highly trained Shinobi against one you. I like those odds,” Kita said, and I could hear the smugness in her voice. And also, her bluff. We were not highly skilled, or highly trained.  
He took one more look at us and jumped up onto the top of the closest building. Kita let him go.   
“Ready to go?” 

  
Home at last, I was relaxing on my couch, holding a bag of pees to my ribcage. It still hurt. I was partially convinced I’d bruised a rib. Not broken, it didn’t hurt that badly, but definitely bruised. I still hadn’t gone to a medic for the wounds, and I had no intentions of doing so.   
I was in and out of deep sleep, leaning against the couch armrest, when I heard a slight bang. My eyes were heavy when I sat up straighter to look at my front door, where the sound came from.  
“You look horrible,” Sasuke told me, having closed and locked the door behind him. His eyes narrowed and his look turned intense. “You’re injured.” He crossed the room in three big strides, plopping down on the couch beside me. His hand cupped my injured cheek, and he leant closer toward me. “Your mission?”  
I nodded. “If you think that’s bad, you should see my side.” I laughed a little as I said it, which then made me flinch from the pain in my ribs.  
He had pulled my shirt up to just under my chest to look at my side before I could move. There was a slight sound that came from him. Almost like a pained gasp. But he wasn’t in pain. “That looks . . . bad.”  
I pushed his hands away. “What the hell, Sasuke! You can’t just go flashing my body to you!”  
“Roll your shirt up. I’m going to go get the first aid kit.” He stood, then looked down at me. “But you should go to the medics.” He turned away and started walking toward my bathroom.   
I leant against the armrest again, falling almost completely asleep before he came back. It was the touch of his fingers against my cheek that made me startle back away. I’d grabbed his wrist and shoved him off of me while flipping over at the same time. The result had him flat on his back, with me straddling his waist, his wrist still clutched in my hand. My other hand had fisted in his collar. I blinked, once, twice, staring down at him. “Oh.”  
He just stared at me, one eyebrow raised. “What, did you forget I was here?”  
“Um. Kind of.”  
He shifted slightly. “Would you get off me now?”  
I nodded, climbing off of him, jumping up onto my couch. “S-sorry! I didn’t mean to.”  
“You fell asleep. Now just sit still and let me take care of you.” He had ointment on his fingers, but it had smeared a little since I flipped him off the couch. He rubbed it on my cheek anyway, then applied more on his fingers and rubbed that on my cheek too. “It’s not too bad, but it’s deep. You should be careful with it.”   
I sat there, studying him, as he rubbed the ointment on my cheek. “Why are you doing this?”  
He jerked slightly before applying more ointment, and pulled my shirt up a little. “Hold it.”   
I held it out of the way. “Sasuke?”  
He glanced up at me as he rubbed the ointment into my skin, but said nothing. Once he was finished, he rubbed his hands together, then grabbed the wrap bandage from the first aid kid. “Sit up, keep your shirt out of the way. Your ribs are bruised, and they need to be tightly wrapped to avoid any further damage.”  
I sat up, still studying him, watching him wrap the bandage around my ribcage. He was silent, and his hands seemed steady, but when I looked closer at him, there was a slight tremble. Finished, he put the first aid kit back together, closed it, and stood, taking it back to the bathroom without saying a word.  
He was gone for several minutes this time, and I waited. When he came out, he wasn’t trembling anymore. He sat beside me on the couch and took a deep breath. “How about, I make some food tonight?”  
“Sasuke?”  
“Or we could just order something.”  
“Sasuke!”  
“What do you want me to say?!” He shot to his feet, turning toward me as he did. His eyes were burning, fists clenched. He gestured toward me. “You’ve been stabbed, and you refuse to go to a medic. It could’ve been worse, Se. You could’ve bled out here on your couch and nobody would’ve been here to stop it! But you just sat here and bled, and ignored your injuries. Turning the wrong way, moving the wrong way, you could’ve broken your already bruised ribs, and punctured a lung, and you’d just . . . sit there, and die, wouldn’t you?”  
I stared at him. “I-what? No. I-I’m just . . . I’m not bleeding to death. I’m fine.”  
“You’re fine because I came here when I knew you were here, and I bandaged you. One wrong move, Se, and you could’ve died here. Not to mention, whoever attacked you could have done worse. Could have killed you.”   
“But . . . he didn’t. I’m fine.”  
He looked away from me then, turning just his face toward the wall. “Yea, you’re fine. Doesn’t matter that your shirt is soaked in blood, or that your couch is soaked in blood. You’re fine, right?”  
There was something about the way he said it that made something in my chest clench. I looked at where I’d been laying on the couch and, sure enough, there was a large spot of blood. And my shirt was bloody.   
He was still staring intensely at the wall, as if he could stare a hole through it.   
I stood, flinching slightly when my ribs protested. “I-I . . . I’m sorry. I guess I didn’t think. It’s just . . . I’ve been hurt worse,” I shrugged, walking a little closer to him, “I didn’t think about it. You’re right, I was being stupid.”  
He turned toward me then, and his eyes met mine. His eyes were glistening, a little shiny. “Just. . . .” He let out a deep breath, like he’d been holding his breath for a few minutes. “Just please, next time, if you don’t want to get medical help, at least ask me. Okay?”  
I nodded. “Okay. Alright. I. . . . Okay.” I tilted my head at him. “But . . . why does it matter to you?”  
His eyes twitched slightly. “Se, you’re . . . you’re asking me, why I care if you die?”   
I shrugged. “I mean, it’s not like. . . .”  
“It’s not like, what? Like we grew up together? Like I come here almost every day and eat here? It’s not like losing you would matter to me?”   
I looked down at the floor, brows furrowing. “Have you been coming over that often? Yea, I guess you have.” I looked up then, and smiled, ready to break the mood, and snapped my fingers. “I get it, you don’t want to have to cook for yourself!” I started to turn away and he grabbed my wrist, turning me back toward him.  
“Just. . . .” He sighed again. “Just please, be more careful from now on. Okay?”  
I nodded. “Alright. I will do what I can, I promise.”  
He shoved his hands into his pockets, hunching his shoulders, in a way he usually didn’t. “So . . . want me to cook, or do you want to go get food?”  
“Get food, and let people see us together?” I made a face. “Why not. Let’s shake’em up.”  
His eyes widened, and he looked at me then. “Yea? Alright. Let’s go, then. What do you feel like getting?” He headed toward the door, then stopped, turned back toward me. “Oh, you should change your shirt. It’s still bloody.”  
I looked down at myself then. “Actually . . . I should shower. There’s dried blood on me everywhere.”  
He reached toward me, and I flinched slightly. He paused, but still ran a hand through my hair, pulling it forward so I could see the dried blood matting it together. “In your hair, especially.”  
“Ick. Yea. I should shower first.”  
“I’ll wait. Take the bandage off and I’ll help you put it back on when you come out.”  
Flashing him a quick smile, I jogged toward my bathroom, then paused and realized I needed to grab clothes. So to my bedroom first. Grey, long-sleeved shirt, black pants, and black sports bra with matching undies, that’s what I chose. Then to the bathroom.   
For a solid thirty seconds, I stood under the steady stream of the showerhead and watched the blood wash down the drain. It spiraled around and around and around, and I found it hard to believe that much blood had been on my body. Although, maybe it wasn’t so hard to believe. After all, I’d definitely been pretty badly injured, and I could feel my injuries stiffening up. My body ached.   
It took some serious scrubbing to get the dried blood out of my hair. For a few minutes, I honestly thought my hair would be permanently crimson. But no, it finally ended up coming out, and I shampooed and conditioned my hair thoroughly, pleased when it felt soft and clean beneath my fingers.   
Once I got out, I dried quickly, wincing as I dabbed at my injuries. The pants were a little loose, and I had to tie them tighter to fit. When I’d pulled on my sports bra, I hesitated. It covered enough. It wasn’t like I had any breasts to hide, and he was going to have to expose my abdominal area to bandage it, anyway. It was just as covering as if I wore a tank top with it cut in half. Actually more covering, so I grabbed my shirt in one hand and the first aid kit in my other and walked out of my bathroom.   
He looked up when I entered my living room. His eyes widened, and he rubbed a hand over his nose as if it was suddenly itchy as he looked away. He had my smallest glass in his hand, filled a quarter of the way with some kind of red liquid. “Um, here,” he said, holding the glass out.  
I recognized that liquid, and gave him a dirty look. “Is that-?”  
“Yea.”  
“I have the ingredients here for that?”  
He nodded. “It doesn’t take much to make.”  
With a sigh, I threw the first aid kit down on my couch. “I guess I don’t need that then, do I?”   
Shaking his head, he bent to retrieve it. “Drink that. I’ll put this back.”   
Before I drank it, I watched him walk down the hall. Turning my attention to the liquid in the cup, I narrowed my eyes, studying it. It was thin, and red, but clear red. I remembered it being a darker, thicker red the last time I drank it. Must be diluted this time? Sighing again, I swallowed the content of the glass. It was about two or three swallows, and then gone. It had that familiar, hot, fiery taste, but it tasted better this time, and less spicy. Almost watery. He must’ve watered it down?   
He came back in then and took the glass from me. “Looks better,” he said softly, gesturing toward my abdomen.   
The bruises were gone. So were the cuts, and the scrapes. I let out a sharp breath. “One day, you’ll have to tell me what’s in that.”  
Nodding briskly, he took the glass to my kitchen, and, as I pulled my shirt on, I heard him running water.  
I almost yelled out to him that I could’ve washed it, but I was distracted by someone knocking on my door. Glancing back toward my kitchen, satisfied that he wasn’t in sight, I went to open it.  
Kita stood there, arms crossed, foot tapping, a scowl on her face. “Good. You’re up. We’re doing the interrogation. Want in?”  
I hesitated. An interrogation would take a lot of time, and I’d just made plans, but I had been wanting to learn to interrogate efficiently for awhile. . . .  
“Go on,” I heard Sasuke say.   
Jumping, I whirled toward him, not having heard him come in. He stood in my kitchen doorway, glass in hand, soap suds on his hands. “But-?”  
“Go. I’m going to get the . . . stain off your couch. Before it dries too much.” He gestured toward the couch cushions.   
“Sasuke, you don’t-!”  
He smiled slightly. “Interrogations are big. You can’t miss this. I’ll be here when you get back. It might take that long just to get the couch clean anyway.”


End file.
